Fallout: Remnant
by The Snow Mage
Summary: The world has been torn asunder by the war to end all wars, the only survivors sheltered in Vaults beneath the surface of Remnant. Two hundred years later, seven old souls return to force a change upon the desecrated world, though not all seek the same change. Will the descendants of Team RWBY survive the trials to come, or will they be just another set of corpses?
1. Prologue

Hello, everyone. This chapter has been rewritten.

Odd way to introduce you, I know, but I figured it'd be an attention-grabber.

This story is a crossover between RWBY and Fallout, in a way that some of you have likely seen before. A cataclysmic war, set decades after the time of the show, sent the characters and their children into the Vaults, containment mechanisms designed to house hundreds of thousands of people, in total; more than two hundred years later, their descendants have been forced from their Vaults and into the ruinous Wasteland of the world. Some have only left quite recently while others have been outside for years, and still others were born outside the boundaries of the Vaults.

This prologue is about Summer Dream, a descendant of Ruby Rose. A mechanic and technician, she feels more at home with programming and machinery than she ever has with people, for reasons which will be made obvious shortly.

There were technically multiple reasons for my rewriting this, but they all pretty much boil down to "I don't like the way I did it the first time." At the moment, I'm planning to subject the existing chapters (chapters 1-10) to a rewrite, though I might exclude some of the later ones.

If you would like to skip this prologue, there will be a summary at the very end. However, if you're still reading this opening narration, why would you skip past the actual story? That seems a bit odd. Honestly, you probably should've stopped reading this AN by now. Stop. No, go read the story. Seriously. Why are you still reading this AN?

 **For future reference, if you would like to skip past the opening Author's Notes, skip to the first set of bolded X's.**

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

 _"Hello, Overseer of Vault 4. This is Jaune Arc, co-founder and CCO of Vault-Technologies Incorporated... Do I really have to say that each time?... Okay, okay. So, uh... The Vault program is designed to protect people, Humans and Faunus alike, in the event of the worst-case scenario: large-scale deployment of largely classified weapons that have the potential to wreak long-term harm to the world, and the people on it. Not that there are any people not on the world, I mean. Our world, I mean... Sorry, uh, where was I?... Right, thank you. Vault 4 is one of the 'experimental' Vaults, denoting a difference in general living structure from-"_

Summer Dream let out a tiny yelp as her earbud filled her ear with crackling static, jerking her head away in a startled reaction that tugged the offending device from her ear. She winced as she rubbed at her ear with her right hand, glaring at the much more complicated device the earbud had retracted into.

Her PIP-Boy, a Titan IV variant called a "Rose Model", was made from dyed red leather and a copper-like composite alloy that had stood the test of time; even most of its electronic components had weathered the centuries without needing replacement, despite some its prior owners having been less than precise in their maintenance of it (which Summer had been less than thrilled to discover nearly eight years ago, when she'd first received it on her thirteenth birthday). However, that wasn't to say that it was perfect; most of the older audio, image, and video files had been corrupted over time, especially the files that predated the PIP-Boy itself.

After glaring at the device for a moment longer, Summer sighed, closing her silver eyes as she slid the PIP-Boy's collapsible keyboard back into its housing. When she opened her eyes, the sight of her bangs, a black that seemed to glow red in the faint artificial light, frustrated her anew, and she rose, wincing at the cramp in her leg.

"I need a haircut," she mumbled, idly pulling at her jumpsuit as she started pacing in the small room. It was pale blue, lined with a dozen pockets, and marked twice with a large yellow 4, once on the left breast and once on the back; her belt, a worn length of brown leather, held half a dozen pouches made of the same blue cloth as her jumpsuit, and was more for carrying those pouches than holding up her pants. Despite not being its first owner, the jumpsuit fit her quite well, molding against her breasts and hips tightly enough to showcase them rather enticingly without being so tight as to be uncomfortable, though she'd needed to cut a hole in the jumpsuit's shirt just above where it was tucked into the trousers to let her canine tail out.

Summer glanced at her PIP-Boy and sighed again, forgetting all about how her hair was longer than she'd like. "Okay, restoration of corrupted files takes time," Summer muttered to herself, her tail swishing irritably as she paced. "You've done well so far, but need to keep at it. Touching up the old code was a good start, but... hmm... I need to borrow Myst's algorithm."

"To do what, Summer?"

The voice made Summer yelp and jump a full foot into the air, as did the sudden burst of light as her master turned the lights up, revealing the state of Summer's room. Though the desk she'd been working at was perfectly maintained and kept free of dust and debris, the rest of her room was not; books cluttered the floor on either side of her desk and the top of her dresser, which was missing most of one of its legs after Summer had decided to improvise a conductor and needed some extra metal (a few old, decommissioned textbooks that Summer had scavenged from the trash room served as its replacement), and her bed's sheets and pillows were scattered around the room so thoroughly that there wasn't an obvious explanation.

The man who'd appeared in her doorway most of a foot taller than Summer, though since she wasn't very tall herself, it wasn't much of a compliment. His hair was a shimmery blue, his eyes a much paler shade that people often mistook for grey, and his jumpsuit held a single adornment: a copper pin in the shape of a six-pronged gear, signifying him as the head of the maintenance team. His skin was dark, almost tanned, a stark contrast to his fellow vault dwellers like Summer, who were near-universally pale white.

"Myst," Summer said, her eyes still wide. She took a moment to compose herself, pushing away the fear that she always felt around him and forcing a tight smile onto her lips. "I-I just want to, to put some of the old... files on my PIP-Boy back together."

Myst's smile disappeared for a brief instant at the tremor in her voice before he put it back on and chuckled. "Those old audio logs? The ones your grandmother was obsessed with?" he asked, making Summer flinch and nod her head. "I thought those things were too far gone."

"I managed to get one... mostly," Summer said, tossing a brief glare at her PIP-Boy again. "But it turned back into static after a couple minutes."

Myst whistled appreciatively, making Summer look back up at him. "You restored multiple minutes of an audio file more than two hundred years old, Summer. That's impressive."

Summer smiled. "Th-thanks, boss. So, can I, uh, borrow that algorithm?"

Myst gave her a wide grin, only to frown and shake his head a moment later. "Not yet, at any rate. We've got work to do."

"Oh," Summer said, blinking. A familiar energy started flowing through her, almost like an adrenaline rush. "What's the job?"

"Something, or someone, messed with the food dispensers," Myst said, turning to head out through the door. Summer followed along behind him as he started off down a hallway, heading towards the stairwell leading to the third floor of the Vault. "You'll never guess what they're pumping out right now."

"So it's not food, then?" Summer asked dryly, making Myst chuckle.

"Nope. Not water, either," Myst said, flashing a smile over his shoulder at her before his expression turned grave. "They're popping out guns. Ammo, too."

"What?" Summer was bewildered by that answer; she'd expected that they'd just been shut down somehow. "How? Why?"

"No clue. Looks like some sort of code related problem, but we're going to be inspecting the dispensers to make sure it's not a mechanical problem."

"Why?" Summer asked as they rounded a corner, nearly bumping into one of the robotic security guards. She shuffled to the side as the humanoid robot halted in midstep, its faded blue plating shining in the artificial light as it waited for her to move first. Once she was past, it continued on its path, likely patrolling the halls as it routinely did.

"Because I've already got a program running, looking for any irregularities in the coding," Myst said, ignoring the robotic guard.

"Really?" Summer asked, her voice turning dry again. "That sounds like the idea I came up with last year. The one you said would take too long to make work."

"Yeah, because I wanted the credit for it," Myst said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he flashed her another grin. "I told the Overseer that it was your idea, Summer. Don't worry; I'm not the sort of shitbird that'd steal something from his apprentice."

"Language," Summer said, almost offhandedly, as she met Myst's eyes with a glare. As he dropped her gaze and mumbled a halfhearted apology, she realized just what she'd done, and twin spikes of fear and pride shot through her.

"Huh?" Myst said, coming to a stop suddenly as someone darted out from a hallway in front of him. When the person stopped at his reaction and stared at him, he just sighed and asked, "Shouldn't you be in the infirmary, Layla?"

"Layla?" Summer asked, peering out from behind Myst to look at the girl in front of him. She was in her early teens, with long black hair, wide grey eyes, and a heart-shaped face; her jumpsuit fit rather loosely around her, for the most part, though it typically wound up snug around her chest whenever she stopped slouching. Of course, she was slouching now, but that was more due to the metal brace around her left leg. "Layla Rose, what are you doing?" Summer asked, anger born of worry blossoming in her as she stepped past her mentor to confront her still-recovering cousin.

Layla chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Hiya, sis," Layla said, forcing a bit of extra cheer into her voice. "How's it going?"

"Terribly, now that I know you've been running through the halls with a broken leg!" Summer said, making Layla try to hide a flinch behind a grin. "Come on, I'm taking you back to the med-wing."

"But, Summer!" Layla whined as the older girl wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I hate it there! There's nothing to do!"

"You need rest, Layla," Summer said, starting the slow process of dragging her cousin back to the Vault's infirmary. "Otherwise, your leg won't ever heal and it'll be in pain for the rest of your life."

"But I'm sick of rest!" Layla complained, though she wasn't resisting Summer's attempts to move her; she was even making the effort to shuffle her injured leg. "I just want to do something!"

"Well," Myst chimed in, getting Summer and Layla to stop, "what we're doing is fairly important, you know, and we probably shouldn't take the time to take her back to the infirmary, Summer. It's probably for the best if we just take her along with us."

"What?" Summer asked, turning to look at her mentor. "Myst, she needs to rest, not work."

"She wouldn't be working," Myst said, smiling at the two young women. "She'd just be observing. Call it a preview of what'd be waiting for her in Maintenance, if she decides to join us." Summer sighed, which only made Myst's smile widen into a grin. "Well, little Rose? You want to come with us?"

"Can I? Please?" Layla asked, her eyes widening further.

"Yes, you may," Myst said, making Summer sigh again. "Now, come on. We've got a flight of stairs between us and the main cafeteria, so let's get a move on."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The main cafeteria of Vault 4 never failed to seem absurdly large to Summer. With a wide, sloped ceiling, and more than four hundred feet from one end to the other, the cafeteria was broken up by a series of tables and benches, as well as the two dozen concrete columns placed seemingly randomly throughout. Summer, just like every member of the Maintenance department, knew the secret to those pillars: they contained massive amounts of Dust, and were hooked up to various systems and subsystems throughout the Vault, providing power, heat, clean water, and fresh air to the entire Vault.

"Are you sure you're okay, Layla?" Summer asked, her cousin's arm over her shoulders to support her. The younger girl was panting, her face pale (even for a Vault dweller), and she was keeping as much weight as she could off her injured leg.

"I... I'll be fine," Layla said, blinking as she stared blankly at Summer. "I just... need a few minutes... I guess."

"Well, I guess I was wrong," Myst said, frowning at Layla as Summer helped her onto a bench. "Let's go over one or two dispensers, then take her back to the infirmary."

"Thank you," Summer said, exaggerating the words despite her obvious relief.

"Aw, really?" Layla asked, pouting at Summer. "Can't I stay? Please?"

"Well, assuming this really is a mechanical problem, fixing one will look the same as fixing the rest," Myst said, looking at the nearest food dispenser. It was a broad object, nearly four feet wide and set into the wall, that otherwise resembled a vending machine. "If not, though, we probably won't be able to fix this by going over the components, so we'd need to go to the SI access chamber, which is right next to the infirmary, so you'd end up there anyway."

"Damn it, really?" Layla asked, making Summer wince.

"Layla, language," Summer said, making Layla chuckle.

"I'll never understand why you hate swear words so much, Summer," Layla said. She kept chuckling, even as Summer's eye started twitching.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Myst said, snapping his fingers to draw his apprentice's attention. "Come on, Summer, let's get to work."

"Alright, boss," Summer said, giving her cousin one last worried glance before she went over to him.

"So, how should we start?" Myst asked with a smile.

"Determine the flaw exists," Summer said, pressing a button on the dispenser. Within seconds, a panel close to the machine's base opened, revealing a small firearm. Summer picked it up, set it to one side, and pressed the same button again once the panel had closed. Another few seconds later, there was another pistol sitting in the dispenser's tray. "Step two," Summer said, moving that pistol to the side as well, "examine the device to determine the cause of the flaw."

"And how would we do that?" Myst prompted.

"In this case, we'd need to compare the internal components against their blueprints to make sure that it hasn't been tampered with," Summer said, lifting her arm and waking her PIP-Boy. "If this isn't a mechanical problem, we won't find anything wrong," Summer added as she scrolled through her PIP-Boy's menus, finding the dispenser's schematics after a few moments. "Okay, there's an external access panel on the left side, but we'll need to pull it out from the wall first."

"All correct," Myst said, nodding his head. "Good so far. Let's see if you can actually do this, though."

Summer narrowed her eyes at her mentor. "You're not gonna help me with that?"

"Nope."

Summer sighed. "Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the slow way," she mumbled, pulling a small tool out from one of her jumpsuit's many pockets; her hands were shaking badly enough that she nearly dropped it, though she managed to make it look like an elaborate flourish instead. As she walked over to the dispenser's right side, the tool extended with several clicking sounds, forming a thin pry bar with a small hook at one end.

As Summer slid the pry bar through the slim space between the dispenser and the wall, Myst's PIP-Boy let out two shrill beeps that made her wince. "Ah, looks like that program I had running just finished," Myst said, sliding his fingers over his PIP-Boy's display, only to frown after a moment. "Hmm. That's odd."

"What's odd?" Summer and Layla asked simultaneously, sharing a glance.

"The diagnostic data packet's too large to transfer over the wireless network," Myst said, still frowning at his PIP-Boy. "That program shouldn't have been able to compile that much."

"So, you need to head to SI access?" Summer asked, starting to tug the dispenser out from its place.

"Yeah," Myst said, nodding his head again. "Looks like I'm taking you back to the infirmary after all, Layla." The young Rose whined, but that only made Myst cluck his tongue at her. "Come on, now," he said, sweeping her up in his arms. "You gonna be alright while I'm gone, Summer?" Myst asked.

"Yeah?" Summer said, her voice turning it into a question. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just got a bad feeling, is all," Myst said, frowning as he glanced down at Layla. "Like there's too much weird sh-, I mean, stuff, going on at once."

"You older folk always say things like that," Layla said, rolling her eyes and stifling a giggle as Myst gave an exaggerated groan.

"Say that again and my back might give out, whippersnapper!" Myst exclaimed in a raspy voice.

Summer let out a sigh as the two of them left the room, the thick steel door sliding shut behind them. It took her a couple of slow, deep breaths to still her shaking hands, something that always happened whenever she was in the same room as Myst. Or any man, for that matter.

"He's not gonna try anything," Summer mumbled to herself as she slowly dragged out the dispenser. "No one is. Not ever again."

She paused, glancing down at the pair of pistols on the ground, then stooped down to pick one up. The familiar weight of worked steel, of the intricate mechanisms of a firearm, were an immediate comfort; she checked the safety and the magazine, and she let out a relieved sigh as she slipped the loaded 9mm pistol into an otherwise empty pocket in her jumpsuit.

Whichever way she looked at it, Summer just didn't feel right without a gun in her hand.

"Back to work," Summer chided herself, her silver eyes clear of wariness as she resumed her tugging on the pry bar.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer sighed as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, having finally shoved the dispenser back into place. The pile of guns had only grown over the half hour she'd been working, and had been joined by a smaller pile of loaded magazines for them, but she had succeeded; the canteen of chilled water she held was proof of that.

"Finally," Summer mumbled as she opened the canteen. "Needed to reroute power to trigger a complete hard reset, but I finished." Celebrating her success, one of her first as a member of the Maintenance department, Summer took a long drink, only to turn around mid-swallow at the sound of the door opening.

It was not Myst, as she'd expected, but one of the robotic security guards on patrol. Summer was about to turn away and ignore it, but her gaze stayed on it for a second longer as her instincts screamed that there was something wrong with it. When she realized what it was, she froze, the canteen slipping from her grip and hitting the floor with a muted _whumpf_.

"Intruder," the robot's synthetic voice said as it lifted the pair of rotating guns that had replaced its hands. "Identify yourself."

"S-Summer Dream, resid-resident number 0-1-2-8-4-6," Summer stammered out, trying to keep from shaking as she took a step backwards. "Wh-what's g-going on?"

"Error: unable to access resident database. Error: unable to access cessation of hostilities procedure. Judgement protocols activated. Crime: theft of Vault property by non-Vault personal. Verdict: Guilty. Punishment: Execution."

Summer let out a sound somewhere between a grunt and a whine, jumping behind a nearby table and taking cover behind it as the robot's guns started spinning, belching out a stream of bullets with a series of loud, hollow pops. Behind all the panic, some part of Summer's mind was grateful that Vault-Tec had decided to make the economically sound decision of outfitting their robotic security with the relatively _low_ -caliber .223 rounds, instead of the higher caliber .308 rounds Ruby Rose had pushed for.

As she shook with fear, Summer's hand brushed against the pistol she'd taken earlier, and she drew it from her pocket in a hurry, calming down somewhat as she ran her thumb over the safety and made sure there was a round in the chamber.

A series of heavy clanks drew Summer's mind away from the pistol again, and she scrambled around the table as bullets started hammering into the floor next to her, flinging up shards of concrete that managed to score several small cuts on her.

Summer hissed in pain, and a sudden rage drowned out everything all other thoughts and emotions. Her breaths and heartbeat slowed, as did the robot's firing speed, as she made her decision, and she rose to a crouch, her pistol held firmly in both hands as she lined up its sight to the robot's "head". She fired twice, hitting right between the small circles of plated glass that housed its "eyes" and sending steel-jacketed rounds straight into the robot's secondary power source, a relatively unstable compilation of Lightning Dust.

Sparking yellow lines of electricity encircled the robot as the Dust exploded, sending it into wild convulsions and overloading its circuitry, disabling it completely. It fell to the ground with a loud thud that echoed around the cafeteria.

Her heartbeat pounding in her ears, Summer lowered the gun slowly, her hands perfectly still as she stared wide-eyed at the broken robot. After a long moment of silence, the wall-mounted intercom crackled to life, startled Summer enough to make her jump, a motion that sent a shock of pain up her leg; looking down, she saw that there were several small shards of concrete stuck in her calf and thigh.

 _"Everyone, this is Overseer Lyndon. Our security forces, the robots that many of you have become accustomed to, seem to have been reprogrammed. Get to areas free of the security forces; the armory and firing range are under our control, so get to us if you can."_

"God's grace," Summer mumbled, swallowing nervously as she tugged out a shard of concrete from her leg and tossed it to the floor, where it joined the two she'd already removed. "Why?"

 _"If anyone is close to my office, there's a way you can shut down the robots: by accessing my terminal and selecting the Level 0 menu, you can disable all security systems in the Vault. My terminal's password is 'RUBY'. Please, if any of you can get there safely... we're all counting on you."_

"Okay," Summer said breathlessly, letting out a whimper as she pulled another bit of concrete from her leg; her pant leg was slowly reddening as blood seeped from the multiple small wounds. "The Overseer's office is only one floor down, and..." Summer paused mid-sentence as she pulled out the last bit of concrete. "One floor down, and only... two or three hundred feet away from the staircase. I can get there within... three minutes, if I don't have to hide."

As she turned to leave, the piles of weapons and ammo caught Summer's eye. After a brief moment of consideration, she walked over to them and picked up a second pistol, as well as a half dozen spare magazines, all of which went into one of her belt's pouches. After another moment, she exchanged the pistol she'd already used for a fresh one, checking the magazine it was loaded with to make sure it was full.

"I might need to defend myself," Summer mumbled quietly, blushing faintly as she realized she was trying to justify her carrying a weapon around again. "This time for rea... oh, no." Summer's voice shook and her eyes widened. "Layla. I need to get to the infirmary."

With that, Summer took off for the stairs at a limping jog, her worry for her cousin making her grit her teeth against the pain in her leg.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"God's grace," Summer whimpered, staring at the hallway leading up to the infirmary. Blood marked the steel walls and rested in wide pools along the concrete; their origins lay haphazardly in the hallway, a mess of corpses that greened Summer's cheeks and made the young Faunus step carefully around them. " _Why_?"

As she slowly picked her way over the bodies, Summer tried to keep her eyes on the long hallways and open doorways around her, watching for any robots that could wander out looking for more people to kill. She'd already dealt with another two on her way there, and the echoing gunshots had made Summer realize her pistols weren't well suited to stealth; she'd run away from the robots she'd disabled, hoping to avoid any others that had heard and were on their way there.

Summer pressed her back up against the wall as she neared the infirmary door, swallowing nervously as she raised her pistol. She checked it to make sure the safety was off, then tapped her fingers against the door's control. As it slid open, the thick slab of metal drawn up into the ceiling, Summer glanced inside and flinched back behind her cover as she saw a humanoid figure. After a second, she realized that the figure she'd seen was too short to be one of the robotic servitors, and glanced inside again, this time for a long moment.

The person she saw was very short, not quite four feet tall, and had thinning white hair falling down to the small of his back. He wore a white coat over his jumpsuit, the broad yellow 4 emblazoned on it telling Summer that he was a doctor. He was mumbling under his breath as he grabbed a clear plastic bottle filled with red fluid from one of the many cabinets in the room, tucking it away into a backpack at his feet.

"Doctor Albus?" Summer asked, drawing a yelp from the short man. He whirled on his heels, his light blue eyes wide with startled fear until he saw Summer. "What's going on? Why are the robots attacking us?" The words left her in a panicked rush, the fear she'd been feeling reasserting itself now that there was someone who she knew outranked her in the Vault's hierarchy. Summer didn't know why she was asking him, though; she didn't think he'd know any more than she did.

The doctor grimaced, his already deep wrinkles growing further from the motion, and shook his head. "If I did, I wouldn't be in here, now would I?" he muttered darkly, turning back to the cabinet and pulling out another bottle, this one full of pills.

Summer stepped into the room, closing the door behind her, and asked, "What are you doing, Doctor?"

"Leaving," Albus said, glancing down at his PIP-Boy for a brief moment. There was pain in his eyes, as well as tired resignation. "I can't get to the Overseer's computer with legs like mine, and staying here is a death sentence. So, I'm leaving the Vault."

Summer's eyes widened, and she gaped at the man as he kept stuffing medicine into his backpack. "What are you talking about?"

"You saw the dead in the halls, didn't you?" Albus asked, chuckling darkly. "They are the least of them. Here," he added, pausing in his looting to pull up a display on his PIP-Boy, which he then tilted to show Summer. "This is a population counter for Vault 4," Albus said, making Summer's heart sink in her chest. "It only counts everyone who has a PIP-Boy monitoring their vital signs, but, well... you can see how well that's going, can't you?"

As Summer watched, the number on his PIP-Boy flickered, dropping from 105 to 96.

When Summer woke up this morning, there had been more than four thousand people living in Vault 4.

She swallowed at the lump that had formed in her throat, her hands shaking as Albus went back to pilfering supplies. "How?" Summer mumbled, shaking, her voice a dry croak. "Why? Why is this happening?"

"I hope to live long enough to find out," the doctor said, standing back up. "Here," he said, holding the bag up for her to take. "Go get your things, if you can. Our only shot is getting out of here, and you're likely to last longer than me."

Still stunned, Summer numbly took the backpack from him, holding it so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I can't," she murmured, ducking her head. "I need... I need to find Layla," she said, resolve filling her voice with strength. Though her hands still shook slightly as she shrugged the backpack on, her silver eyes were as hard as steel. "Can your app help me find her?"

"Layla Rose, right?" Albus asked, receiving a nod from Summer. "I'm afraid not. She didn't have PIP-Boy, and this app only tracks people who have them."

"Then how about Myst, the Chief of Maintenance?" Summer asked. "He was the last person with her, and he was bringing her here, so if they never made it..." Summer trailed off, biting her lip.

"Let me check," the doctor said, lifting his arm and scrolling through menus on his PIP-Boy. After a moment, he frowned at his PIP-Boy and made a small, curious sound in his throat. "Myst is still alive?" he mumbled, glancing up at Summer. "Let me double check that... No, his PIP-Boy is saying that he's alive. His heartbeat is elevated, and he seems to have more adrenaline in his system than is natural, but he's alive."

"Can you tell me where?" Summer asked, her voice a breathless rush. Her heart was pounding in her chest at the mere thought that her cousin might have survived.

"Second floor dormitories, east wing. Looks like... either room 212 or 214. Map doesn't zoom in far enough," Albus grumbled under his breath, irritably slapping his PIP-Boy with two fingers.

"That's good enough for me," Summer said, biting her lip again. She closed her eyes, letting her worry wash out of her for a moment, firmly forcing herself to believe that her cousin was still alive, despite only having hope and no evidence.

"Well, that might be enough for you, but I need to get another backpack now," Albus said, walking past Summer to the door and tapping a finger against the console next to it.

The door slid upwards, but before the doctor had time to register what he was seeing, one of the servitor robot's sword-hands lanced through his chest, tearing a gasp from his throat. The other blade stabbed through his head a moment later, killing him.

Summer couldn't help but stare as the elderly man slumped backwards, his own weight dragging him off the robot's blades. She tore her eyes away from him, raised her gun, and fired twice, sending two bullets into the robot's secondary Dust reservoir and frying its systems.

As she ran out from the infirmary, heading towards the dormitories, Summer didn't notice the tears running down her cheeks.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The stench of blood had long since filled Summer's nose, to the point that she was starting to ignore it by habit rather than intent. The halls around the dormitories were covered in it, and held so many corpses that Summer had been forced to slow down to keep herself from tripping over them, a fact that she was not happy about.

Summer gagged as she opened the door to room 212; the sight of the dead children, having been killed around their parents who'd futilely tried to protect them, was starting to get to her. A pair of servitor robots were in the room, their heads and chests crushed by the sections of pipe and torn-off chair legs that the adults in the room had wielded before being gunned down.

Summer shut the door, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping her pistol. She ran the fingers of her other hand over it, tracing over the curves and edges. After a moment, she started to calm down, her breathing slowing down as she pushed the sight from her mind.

"She's gotta be in there," Summer mumbled, glancing up and down the hallway as she took the few steps over to the other door. Room 214 was her room, where she'd lived ever since she turned twelve and her uncle had decided she was old enough to live on her own. "She has to be in there," she repeated, her hand starting to shake as she lifted it to door's control panel.

For a long moment, Summer just stood there, her hand shaking, her tail hanging limp behind her. Fear for what she might find, what the robots might have already done to her cousin, made her unable to just open the door and walk in. But then she took a long, deep breath, ran her thumb over her pistol's safety, and tapped the panel, making the door slide into the ceiling.

What she saw scared her, infuriated her, but most of all it confused her.

Layla was in Summer's room, alright: her hands and feet were bound to the bed's frame with rope, and her clothes were lying in the corner, tattered and discarded. She had several bruises that Summer hadn't seen a mere half hour ago, and her left leg was bulging obscenely, her broken leg having been jostled and misaligned at some point. When she saw Summer, her eyes widened and she started struggling, screaming into the gag that, Summer noted with horror, was made from _her_ panties, not Layla's.

Myst was also in Summer's room, his shirt halfway off his body. When he saw Summer, he froze.

Then, a slow smile stretched across his lips.

"Hello, Summer," Myst said, tugging his shirt off in a lazy, sensual gesture. "How kind of you to join us."

"Myst?" Summer asked, her voice dry and cracking. She looked back at her cousin for a moment before she narrowed her eyes and glared at her mentor. "What in God's name are you doing? Shouldn't you be trying to stop the servitors?"

"There's no point," Myst said, and for a moment his brittle, lustful demeanor fell away, revealing the uproar of fear that lay just beneath the surface. "Those... they'll kill us before long," he said, closing his eyes for a moment as he steadied his breathing. "We might as well try to enjoy the last few minutes of our lives, while we still can."

"Not if you stopped the damned things by getting to the Overseer's terminal," Summer said, making an effort to keep herself from raising her voice.

"It's too late for that, Summer," Myst said tiredly, glancing at the still open doorway. "The odds of any of us getting out alive... we'd never make it." Myst took a long, slow breath, then raked his eyes over his apprentice's body. "You would've been my first choice, you know."

"Huh?" Summer asked, taking a step back as memories flashed through her, filling her nose and mouth with the scent and taste of blood.

Myst chuckled, shaking his head. "For my wife. Or lover, or whatever you'd like to be, as long as you were mine," Myst said, a flicker of something appearing in his eyes; with a shudder, Summer realized it was a particular madness, a lustful craze that she'd seen twice before, years ago. "Why do you think I pushed so hard for you to be my apprentice? I wanted you to be mine, Summer Dream, my beautiful wife."

Summer took another step back, swallowing nervously as she raised her pistol, pointing it at her mentor's head.

"I took a peek into the genealogy logs, Summer; we're far enough apart that we'd have been allowed to marry," Myst said wistfully. He sighed sadly, then took a step towards her, smiling at her. "If only we'd had more time."

"Step back," Summer said, her voice cracking as she backed up another two steps. "Let me and Layla go, and I won't have to shoot you."

"Shoot me?" Myst asked, chuckling again. He began to walk towards her, saying, "Summer, if you were going to-"

She squeezed the trigger, letting loose a raucous clap of sound as a bullet shot from her pistol and sank through Myst's eye, punching through his brain before bouncing off the back of his skull. He collapsed, his head landing on Summer's foot and making her jump back in fright.

Summer stood there shaking for a moment, the flashbacks overwhelming her, until Layla screamed into her gag again. The sound of her cousin in pain tore Summer from her own misery, and she ran to her side. "Are you okay?" Summer asked, her voice tight and watery as she pulled the pair of panties from Layla's mouth.

"N-no," Layla replied, her voice hoarse. She coughed, and Summer set to work untying the ropes that bound her. "He... he was go-going to... to..."

"Shh, it's okay, Layla," Summer said as soothingly as she could as her cousin started to cry. The deep, heaving sobs, born of fear and relief, bounded around the room and made Summer wince and bit her lip.

"Intruders: identify yourselves."

Summer stood up and whirled around in a smooth motion as the robotic voice clipped through the doorway, raising her gun and beginning to fire at the first robot she saw, two quick pops of noise that buried their rounds between the robot's camera-eyes, sending up a spray of sparking electricity that arched from it to the others, making them jerk slightly, their arms moving very slightly off course.

Unfortunately for her, there were three, and the one she'd chosen to take down first was the only one armed with blades instead of guns.

The arms of the other two, which ended in distended tubes with numerous holes, began revolving rapidly as the first robot fell to the ground. Summer's eyes widened as she hurriedly shifted her aim to the next robot and fired, but she was in too much of a hurry; she missed her first shot.

And then the robots opened fire.

Steel-jacketed tracer rounds filled the air with steady lines of heat as Summer fired again, this time managing to land a hit on the second servitor, piercing through a weak point in its chestplate and striking its cooling system, a fairly small source of Ice Dust that nonetheless burst spectacularly. The rapid expansion of ice chilled the metal with an audible groan that was only barely audible over the gunfire, and the robot's guns creaked to a halt, the barrels stuck in place due to the encroaching ice.

Summer moved on from the somewhat disabled robot to the one that was still firing in chattering bursts, only for her left shoulder to jerk as a bullet managed to find her. She grit her teeth, swallowed a scream before it could come out, and started firing, mostly with one hand; she used her left hand to brace her right, instinctively trying to reduce the amount of strain she could put on her shoulder.

Four spent 9mm rounds and one bullet grazing her thigh later, and Summer managed to hit the robot's secondary power supply and shut it down like the first one. It collapsed, and Summer sucked in a deep heaving breath as pain lanced through her shoulder and thigh, letting out a little squeak of pain.

Now that the battle was over, Summer's mind started working overdrive, trying to make up for the singular determination to take down her targets she'd had only a moment earlier. She mused that the only reason she'd survived the fight was because of the way she'd down the first one; if it hadn't reacted so explosively, likely as a result of an improperly sized Dust source or some other manufacturing defect, the others' aim wouldn't have been compromised, and she and her cousin would have been thoroughly ventilated.

Summer turned around, facing Layla with a weary smile on her lips, only to gasp in horror as she saw what had happened. Shattered concrete and metal covered the younger woman, dust coating multiple small cuts and bruises that she hadn't had only moments ago. But worst of all was what Summer saw when she looked further up her cousin's body, the instinctive reassurance of "You'll be okay," dying in her throat before she could even speak.

Layla's throat, much like Summer's thigh, had been gouged open by one of the robots' wild shots. Blood gushed out in an unrelenting torrent as she gagged, her lips already dyed red as it flowed into her windpipe and she coughed it up. Her grey eyes shone with fear and tears rolled down her cheeks as she twitched and spasmed on the bed.

"Oh, God, no," Summer mumbled, tears welling up in her own silver eyes as she went to Layla's side. She grasped the younger woman's hand in both of hers, holding on tightly, as if she believed that she could pull her cousin away from death's grasp by just holding on tightly enough. "Oh, Layla. I'm here. I'm with you, Layla."

Layla rolled her head onto its side, staring into Summer's eyes for a long moment. Then, she mouthed three simple words that made Summer's vision blur with tears.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer stumbled out of the Vault in shock, the massive, gear-shaped door slowly turning shut behind her. The stony cavern she found herself in was simple, almost unrefined, though there were a few steel beams and supports poking through here and there.

The past hour was all but a blur to her. She'd stayed by Layla's side for a long time, even after she'd died, before she made the dangerous trek to the Overseer's office. Shutting down the robotic servitors had been the easy part, even after one of them had shot apart the monitor of the terminal she'd been using.

Time rocked by in a flash, and before she knew it, Summer was working on restoring an old audio log again. In the back of her mind, Summer managed to not that she was in shock, that she was only working because it was practically the only thing she had left in the world, but the thoughts were distant. Fleeting. And the restoration took up all of her attention, until she finished.

She set it to play, collapsed onto her side, and curled up into a ball, her tail pressed in tight against her. Tears blurred her vision again as the now vaguely familiar voice began speaking, and she sobbed softly into her knees and thighs.

 _"Hello, Overseer of Vault 4. This is Jaune Arc, co-founder and CCO of Vault-Technologies Incorporated... Do I really have to say that each time?... Okay, okay. So, uh... The Vault program is designed to protect people, Humans and Faunus alike, in the event of the worst-case scenario: large-scale deployment of largely classified weapons that have the potential to wreak long-term harm to the world, and the people on it. Not that there are any people not on the world, I mean. Our world, I mean... Sorry, uh, where was I?... Right, thank you. Vault 4 is one of the 'experimental' Vaults, denoting a difference in general living structure from the other Vault programs. In this case, due to the presence of several hundred re-purposed Knight-class robots, thanks to the Atlas military and the Schnee Dust Company. The purpose of this experiment is to see if Humans and Faunus can coexist happily if neither species has a reason to enslave or belittle the other._

 _"I know what you're thinking. Given the recent events, this sort of thing seems a bit... off, considering how many people stopped caring about racial tensions recently. But, you see, well, this has happened in the past, and a lot of the events leading up to where we are now happened because of things like this. So, robot servants. Odd solution, I know, but, well, the CEO was rather insistent... Yes you were, Pyrrha, don't try to deny it._

 _"Anyway, the robots are tied into a non-sapient Artificial Intelligence taskmaster that is built into the Vault itself. There are hundreds of routers and repeaters being spread out, both within the walls and without, so that it would take either a prolonged and well-coordinated assault to turn them all off, or the press of a few keys on the Overseer's dedicated terminal or PIP-Boy."_

At these words, Summer pressed her face even harder into her legs. She'd found the Overseer, Lyndon Harkness a few dozen feet away from his office... and his head and the upper third of his torso within it. The ragged tears along his wounds had told her that his body had been torn apart by gunfire, not blades, and the various holes in his head and shoulders made her numbed mind think that he'd been dragged the rest of the way before the robots had stopped firing.

 _"I know that you don't really want to give up your PIP-Boy, but we can't upgrade the hardware on it without breaking it completely, and it can't handle the firmware upgrade that it would need to manage the uplink to the terminal. I'm sorry, Summer. I know that losing your mom was hard on you; it was hard on all of us."_

Summer blinked, shifting her body so that her Rose Model PIP-Boy was in front of her. "Huh?" she murmured thickly, confused.

 _"Ruby was one of the best people I've ever known, a real hero. If we had even twenty people like her, this war would've already been over, but there just isn't anyone like her._

 _"I'm sorry. I know you don't want to give up your PIP-Boy, but upgrading it to work with the system would make it lose everything that it holds. All of her. So, just... where both? For now? Until you have kids of your own to pass it down to. Assuming you want to have kids someday, I mean. I know I didn't."_

The message ended, and then began repeating, so Summer closed the audio program. For moment, she tried to puzzle out what all of that had meant.

Then she curled up into a ball again, the sheer agony of losing everything tearing away her ability to think, to breathe, to do anything but feel miserable.

When she passed out, she didn't dream. There was only darkness waiting her.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

I really like how this turned out. Compared to how it was originally, I mean. It makes Summer seem a bit more sympathetic, as opposed to how callous and (mildly) sociopathic she was in the original version, and this makes the rape elements of her backstory come less out of nowhere, too.

At the moment, this is the only part that's been rewritten so far, so some things later on might not match up with this until I manage to rewrite those chapters. Be patient: this only started like six or seven months after my last update to the story.

Yikes. I need to get back to work on this shit.

But for now, I must rest. I've got a knot in my back from sitting at my desk too long.

Until next time, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed this.

Oh, and before I forget: no, I don't write lemons. If I'm going to write porn, I'm damn well going to be paid for it, and I can't do that on this site. So, unless there's an incredible demand for it (i.e.: several hundred people going "yeah man, I'd give you money to let me slap the squirrel to something that came from your head"), you won't find me on trying to shill porn.


	2. Chapter 1

This chapter has been rewritten.

Wait, I'm still working on this? I thought I'd put it on hiatus. Oh well, time to get going!

So, essentially, there were three other prologues, each introducing one of the other descendants of team RWBY. I decided to nix that for the rewritten version of this story, but that means that the information packets that I'd given in those three prologues, as well as the eventual development of the entities known as the Shade and the Seraph, which are supposed to be the ones actually telling this story (usually the Shade telling the Seraph), have gone missing. So, without further ado, I present the biggest information dump I've ever had since that time my old laptop stopped working back in high school. Hopefully this smells better.

Before that, I'd like to remind you that you can skip to the bolded X's if you just want to get to the story.

P2: I talked about pairings that were "canonical" to this story. No essential information, other than Pyrrha surviving the end of Volume 3, albeit crippled in a manner that essentially forced her to retire from being a Huntress, a decision which broke her spirit.

P3: I talked about how the Grimm hadn't taken over everything because of the radiation and the frequent struggles felt by everyone. Radiation makes them stronger, but also weaker, as their bodies mutate into more "flesh and blood" and less "foul deific magic"; this means that even the time-worn firearms that have been around for centuries can kill an Irradiated Nevermore or Death Stalker with relative ease. As we've seen in the show, the Grimm tend to be drawn to negative emotions, but in a post-apocalyptic world, damn near everyone feels something negative pretty much all the time, so the Grimm tend to only attack in small groups, at best.

P4: I talked about the founding of Yang's Rest, a small settlement belonging to the Novis Civilus Republic that was founded by three descendants of Huntsmen: Asra Belmont, a descendant of Blake Belladonna and a former member of the Brotherhood of Dust (exiled for being a lesbian, since they need as many willing mothers/fathers as possible) who has a startling amount of proficiency with both picking locks and Dust-based weaponry; Ferrer Rust (originally Ferrer Webb, apparently; my notes are weird sometimes), descended from both Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, another former member of the Brotherhood (same reason for exile) who has a great head for logistics and a Semblance that makes him a master blacksmith; and Volka Locke, a descendant of Yang Xiao Long who wields her great-great-(etc.)grandmother's uncle Qrow's sword and has done quite a bit of work as a caravan guard, which is how she met the two others in the first place. About a decade before this story starts, they wound up finding each other at the remains of a Pre-War settlement, as well as a struggling family, and decided that they needed to do something; thus, the town was founded, its name coming from the untouched gold statue of Yang Xiao Long at the town's center. The town grew over the years, and the NCR eventually wound up claiming them as part of their nation, forcing Yang's Rest to pay taxes, which they aren't quite happy about.

And, lastly, C1: I talked about the economical use of bottle caps as currency. Specifically, I put forward a theory as to how it could come about, essentially being either a rumor or a prank that becomes widespread enough to make it just start happening for real.

Phew! That took a while to get through. On to the story!

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

"I just want them out of here as quickly as possible, okay?" Ferrer Webb said, his voice as rough as unworked stone, rubbing his forehead with one hand in a futile attempt to suppress his growing headache. His eyes astonishingly white, almost as if he was blind, and his hair was the grey of polished steel. His brown workman's shirt and denim overalls were so faded from time and work that they barely held any color anymore; combined with his pale skin, he had a washed-out sort of look to him, as if he had been drained of color somehow. "The last thing I want is to deal with the Brotherhood again after all this time."

"Agreed," Asra Belmont said, poking her fork through the meatloaf sitting on the plate in front of her. Her long hair was utterly black, as was the fur that covered the backs of the cat-like ears sprouting from the top of her head, provoking a somewhat pleasant contrast with her yellow eyes. She was wearing a fairly basic outfit, merely a white tank top and black shorts, though the black greatcoat, which fell into ribbons past where her waist would be when worn, draped over the back of her chair said that there was more to her than simplicity; the readily apparent lack of a bra, despite the sheer size of her breasts, backed up that statement.

"Are you sure?" Volka Locke said, raising an eyebrow as she glanced between the two co-founders of their town. Her hair was both blonde and absurdly long, falling nearly to her knees, and her bright blue eyes held a hint of amusement that her lips didn't show. She wore a white blouse, unbuttoned far enough that she displayed both an impressive amount of cleavage and the fringe of her lacy bra, and her green trousers flared slightly around her brown boots, expanding out to nearly an inch and a half beyond her ankle, but otherwise hugging her thighs and hips tightly. "I'm pretty sure they just want to collect some Dust and move on. We could trade with them without too much trouble."

"You mean you would try to trick them into taking minuscule amounts of Dust in exchange for a high-powered sniper rifle?" Ferrer asked, nodding to the gun leaning against the chair Volka was sitting in. It was sleek and black, bearing an emblem of a shield with three interlocking crystals over it. The long barrel flared into a boxy shape at its end, which Volka had been assured (by one of the other guards of the caravan she'd been escorting) would act as both a counterweight to the bulk of the rest of the gun and as a built-in suppressor, reducing the amount of noise and light a shot from it would give off.

Volka grinned, the barest hint of a blush on her cheeks. "How'd you know?"

"I'm surprised you didn't take them for everything they had with that amount, honestly," Asra said, picking up her glass of milk and drinking deeply from it.

"Yeah, I held back pretty well," Volka said, thumping her chest with a fist as she turned her grin to the Faunus; she didn't notice how it made her cleavage wobble and sway, but Asra definitely did, if the blush that rose to her cheeks was any indication.

"I just want them gone, V. I don't really care how you do it, just do it," Ferrer said, drumming his fingers against the table as he sighed.

"Fine, fine," Volka said, rolling her eyes. "They're planning on leaving soon anyway, so it won't exactly take much of my time."

"Going where?" Asra asked.

"The Vault-Tec facility that's about fifteen miles northeast," Volka said, picking up her roll and taking a big bite from it. She chewed for a moment, swallowed, and then said, "From what I overheard, they're hoping to find an intact Vault beneath it."

"I doubt it," Asra said, letting out a sigh of her own. "Most of the Vaults failed before we – I mean, they – could get to them. Odds are they died of radiation poisoning before anything could break in and kill them."

"I thought the Vaults were supposed to be radiation proof?" Volka asked.

"They were, but a lot of them weren't able to handle the weight of whatever they were built beneath, others had faulty water filtration systems that couldn't purify the well or reservoir they were drawing from, and a few of them just outright failed: Vault-Tec wanted to see if there was a way to mold society into something that wouldn't turn on itself, so they set things up in a few different ways," Asra explained. "The one my great-grandparents came from was set up as an entirely Faunus society, to see if Humans were more inherently violent than us."

"What happened?"

"An earthquake buried half of the living quarters and ruined some of the underground fields they grew crops in," Asra said. "They had to establish a settlement around the Vault just to grow enough food to keep everyone alive."

"Didn't we tell you this stuff already?" Ferrer asked, making Volka chuckle and rub the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Okay, so, _maybe_ I forgot," Volka said, laughing and blushing.

Ferrer sighed again. "My ancestors' Vault wasn't quite like that," he said, his already rough voice growing even coarser with irritation. "Some members just had too much wanderlust to actually stay there, so they wound up going on a sanctioned 'mission' to explore the surrounding terrain and determine whether or not it was habitable again. They determined that it was, so they set up a settlement around it, found out about a few other Vault's that did similar, and formed the Brotherhood of Dust."

"Got it," Volka said, nodding firmly.

"Try to remember it this time, V."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. Probably."

"So," Asra said, stifling a laugh at the exchange, "when are they leaving?"

"Oh, we're leaving tomorrow morning, just after dawn," Volka said.

"'We'?" Asra asked, raising an eyebrow and causing Volka to chuckle and blush again.

"Yeah, so, _maybe_ I agreed to help them out in exchange for fifteen percent of whatever we find," Volka said, grinning broadly at the two. "And _maybe_ I agreed to get a doctor to come with us so we could treat any injuries on the spot, instead of walking around with open wounds and stuff."

Ferrer's eye was twitching by the time Volka finished. "At least take that Rhonwen girl with you, instead of Doc Haruki," he finally said, letting out yet another sigh. "She's still new to the Wasteland, so this is a good chance to give her a look at the sorts of dangers that are out there."

"You got it!" Volka said cheerily.

"Make sure she comes back whole, V," Ferrer added, wagging a finger at the blonde. "A doctor is worth more than the lives of three outsiders."

"That's a bit harsh, Ferrer," Asra chided him. After a moment, she added, "Who's Rhonwen?"

"Hmm? Oh, right, you haven't met her yet," Ferrer said, nodding his head once. "She's an exile from Vault 22. V found her a few weeks back and brought her here."

"You left out a pretty important detail there, Ferrer," Volka said, smirking at him. "Her full name's Rhonwen Schnee."

"Schnee?" Asra asked, frowning. Her eyes widened after a moment, and she exclaimed, "Wait, like Weiss Schnee?!"

"Yep!" Volka said, her smirk turning into a toothy grin. "We've got quite the ancestry here, don't we?"

"Damn," Asra mumbled, turning her eyes back down to the table in front of her as she mulled it over. "We've almost got a full team of Huntsmen descendants now." Ferrer coughed politely, making Asra blush. "You know what I mean," Asra said. "A full team of descendants from a single team."

"Yep!" Volka said again. "Makes me wonder whatever happened to Ruby, you know? Didn't she have a kid at some point?"

"She fell in love with a robot," Ferrer said, folding his hands in front of him. "I'd say it's unlikely she had children."

"Eh?" Volka said, tilting her head to one side and closing one eye, staring up at the ceiling with the other. "Then why do I... eh, whatever. Odds are her kid would've been in one of the Vaults that failed, right?"

"Careful, V: I think Ferrer's casting a shadow over you," Asra said teasingly, prompting a laugh from the blonde and a sigh from the steel-haired man.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Volka couldn't help but glance at the white-haired young woman walking beside her as they left the small town of Yang's Rest, escorting armored and robed figures from the Brotherhood out with them. She wore a white coat that bore a yellow 22 on both the breast and back, though the back's patch wasn't visible beneath the canvas backpack she'd packed full of medical supplies, as well as a simple dark grey blouse and a pair of almost excessively tight trousers that were a much lighter shade of grey, showing off her well-toned legs while de-emphasizing her small bust.

"So," Volka said, somewhat awkwardly, as the two had only spoken a handful of times previously, "how's it going?"

Rhonwen Schnee glanced at her, needing to look down slightly to lock her dark blue eyes to Volka's brighter blues; Rhonwen was rather tall, nearly six feet, and tended to tower over other women. "Is that a real question?" Rhonwen asked grumpily, blinking tiredly at the blonde.

"What'd be fake about it?" Volka asked, folding her arms behind her head casually and bringing her cleavage into greater prominence, something that Rhonwen noticed.

"You spoke to me once since I got settled into that damn house," Rhonwen grumbled, openly staring at Volka's breasts. "And it was in passing."

Volka winced, only to realize that Rhonwen hadn't stopped staring at her chest since they'd started talking. "You know, you'd probably be better at scolding me if you weren't ogling my boobs the whole time," Volka said, somewhat teasingly, provoking a snort of laughter from Rhonwen. "I _am_ sorry, Rhonwen," Volka added, turning her gaze to the road ahead of them. "The caravan I'd brought you in with was leaving already, and they'd hired me to take them to the edge of the Summer Plains, so I'd have lost my reputation if I'd stayed to help you out. I figured I'd be more helpful if I kept bringing in money for the town, since we don't have a lot of income from trade yet."

Rhonwen sighed, also looking ahead of them. "Yeah. I get it, logically, but you still left me alone. In a big, empty house."

"What's that got to do with me?" Volka asked, glancing at her again.

"Nothing, just... you don't know what it's like in the Vaults, do you?" Rhonwen asked, not bothering to wait for a response before she continued speaking. "There's no privacy. If you want to get something to eat after midnight, you go to the mess hall, where there's probably a few dozen people eating and talking. Maintenance works round the clock, so odds are you'd pass someone in the hallways between the housing units and the mess. And then there's the fact that locks are mostly a courtesy, since we weren't allowed to change the codes to anything, not even our bedrooms, so everyone knew how to get into everyone's rooms."

"Yikes," Volka said, shaking her head.

"It was comforting," Rhonwen said, feeling her shoulders slump. "Always knowing that there was someone within earshot, if you were loud enough. Always knowing that if you wanted to talk to someone, you could go find them. And now, I'm all alone in a fucking three bedroom house."

"Why'd you get a house with three bedrooms?" Volka asked, making Rhonwen sigh and shrug. "That can't be the only one we had open, can it?"

"Apparently, it was."

"Yikes."

"At least I managed to break in my bed a few days ago," Rhonwen said, letting out a more contented sigh.

"Huh?" Volka asked, looking at Rhonwen again. "What do you mean?"

"I picked up a good lay," Rhonwen said, giving the blonde a grin. "Speaking of which..." she added, trailing off as she pointedly stared down at Volka's breasts again.

"If that was a proposition, it leaves a lot to be desired," Volka said flatly, making Rhonwen giggle. "Besides, I'm straight."

"How straight?" Rhonwen asked instantly, making Volka straighten. "Don't look at me like that; I've turned straight women bi before."

"I tried a relationship with a woman before, but..." Volka trailed off, letting out a heavy sigh. "I couldn't get past her being... well, a woman."

"Ah," Rhonwen said, disappointment clear in her face. "Well, if you ever want a taste of it, just pick a guy you like and we can have a threesome, okay?"

"Jeez," Volka said, rolling a shoulder uncomfortably. "Is sex all you think about?"

"It's not _all_ I think about," Rhonwen said, putting a bit of clearly false hurt into her voice and drawing a laugh from Volka.

"Could you two talk about something else?" one of the Brotherhood members asked, her tone turning it into a demand. Her cold grey eyes showed a mix of annoyance and disgust as she looked at the two of them, her curly white hair and her dark brown robe both bobbing as she walked.

"Ooh, are you feeling _neglected_?" Rhonwen cooed at the woman, making her pale and take a step away from the amorous Schnee. "Don't worry, honey, I can help you with that."

Volka laughed, shaking her head. "Nice try, Rhonwen, but the Brotherhood tends to kick out any homosexuals."

"She could still be bi," Rhonwen said, looking over the robed woman again. "What d'you say, honey? Want to give it a try?"

The woman seemed to gag and bristle at the same time, her glare mixed with disgust and horror. "My name isn't 'honey'," she finally said after a moment, schooling herself into being at least somewhat calm and dignified. "It's Glenys. And I would never sleep with a woman."

Rhonwen rolled her eyes, then turned to the armored figure who'd been eyeing their conversation with apparent interest. "How about you, hot stuff?" Rhonwen asked, winking at him; she could barely stand to look at him, though, because his knight-like metal armor was gleaming in the sunlight. "You up for a roll in the hay once we're done?"

The man's coal-black eyes widened as he blushed, then hurriedly shook his head, his shock of black hair swaying from the motion. "No," he said bluntly, though Rhonwen suspected otherwise.

"Ah, why not?" Rhonwen asked, faking a whine and making Volka laugh again.

"Are all Vault dwellers like her?" Glenys mumbled to herself as Colby coldly dismissed Rhonwen, making her laugh at the blush he still wore.

Behind them, the final member of the group, named Sigal, let out a quiet sigh and shook his head, his rather short lavender hair not moving at all, despite the motion and light breeze. His armor, much like his comrade's, was fashioned in a way that was supposed to be reminiscent of knighthood, though his armor had been rendered practically non-reflective. His shockingly bright purple eyes narrowed tiredly as he glanced behind him, at the town still in plain view; they hadn't even gone a mile yet, and they had a total of fifteen to cover. 'Wonderful,' he thought to himself, letting out another sigh.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The factory was smaller than Rhonwen had first thought, much like how the journey there had been much shorter than she'd expected. It was little more than dull concrete box a few hundred feet wide, the sign bearing its company's name (Vault-TEC Incorporated) having falling off one of its stands and hanging vertically down in front of the wider doors made to accommodate load-bearing trucks. Ivy had grown over the walls in places, all but completely concealing the collapsed section of wall along the factory's northeastern side.

"You know, I really expected more from what everyone's been calling 'the Wasteland'," Rhonwen noted as the group paused a mere fifty feet away from the factory.

"How so?" Colby asked, eyeing her warily.

"I mean, I wouldn't have guessed that there'd be so much plant life, for one thing," Rhonwen said, gesturing around them to the vast expanse of grass that surrounded them and at the copse of a few dozen trees that was less than a mile west of the factory. "Look at all of it! And Yang's Rest is right up against a giant forest, too!"

"Yeah, we picked a damn good place to put our town," Volka said, preening at what she considered praise. "There's plenty of annual rainfall, since we're so close to the coast, and we managed to clear the area of radiation, so the plants that grow around here aren't all sickly and gross."

"You cleared the radiation?" Glenys asked, blinking at Volka. "How?"

"My Semblance," Volka said, grinning at the robed woman. "It lets me take in and metabolize radiation. If I take in enough over enough time, I can even regrow missing limbs and organs."

"Wait, really?" Rhonwen asked, a sly smile appearing on her lips. "How many times have you lost your virginity, then?"

Volka laughed, blushing, as Glenys started sputtering. "I'm not answering that," Volka said, prompting a giggle from Rhonwen.

"Thank the gods for that," Glenys mumbled, shaking her head.

Sigal only sighed again, continuing ahead of everyone else, only to pause as a piercing howl rattled the sole intact window the factory held. He drew his rifle from the leather sling on his back as he continued his approach, casting his gaze around him warily.

"Great," Volka said, rolling her eyes as she drew her sword and ran a finger over the clockwork mechanism embedded near its hilt. The blade extended to its full length, the remaining two feet of its length ejecting from its place in the thicker end closer to the hilt and then locking into place. "You just had to say all that, didn't you, Rhonwen?"

"What was that?" Rhonwen asked, clenching her hands into fists as she looked around, hurrying to keep up with Volka's pace as the group headed towards the factory.

"Grimm," Volka said, making Rhonwen's already pale skin grow even paler. "Probably a Beowolf from the sound of it. They tend to go down easy, but underestimating them can be a fatal mistake, same as any threat. Stay close, okay?" Rhonwen nodded, taking a deep breath as she flexed her hands again. "Don't shoot unless you think you have to," she advised the Brotherhood members. "I'd rather you not blame me for running out of ammo."

It didn't take long for the Grimm to emerge from its hiding spot. A foot-wide paw emerged from behind the factory's far side, gouging long black claws into the side of the concrete structure and leaving long, jagged marks. The creature's leg entered their view next, long, lean, and covered in thick black fur. When its head emerged, black-furred and canine, covered in a white, bone-like mask with red and yellow markings, it locked its beady red eyes onto Rhonwen and opened its maw, green-tinted drool slavering from its fangs.

Rhonwen froze, shuddering in fear as the creature howled again and began moving in a rolling, four-limbed gait that ate up the distance between them in seconds. It howled again, the sound shattering what little courage she'd managed to pull together, as it neared its chosen prey.

Only for a four-foot-long blade to cleave through its left shoulder, severing its arm from its body and flinging it off course.

The Beowolf howled in pain, black blood streaming from the ruined stump that was left of its torso as it collided with the ground and rolled uncontrollably to a stop more than twenty feet away from Volka. It snarled, attempting to return to its feet, its arm and legs shaking with the effort.

It did not fall silent until Volka skewered its head on her sword.

She drew it back with a soft _shlick_ sound, then swung it in an arc to clear it of the foul liquid that had coated it. "Okay," Volka said, the end of her sword withdrawing into the lower portion of the blade and returning it to its initial length. "Everyone okay?"

"Y-yeah," Rhonwen said, her eyes still wide. "What... that was a Grimm?"

"Yep," Volka said as she walked back to the group, placing her sword against her back and holding it within her Aura to keep it in place. "An irradiated one, by the look of it."

"How can you tell?" Rhonwen asked, still staring at the dead Beowolf.

"They don't decompose in the same way," Volka explained, glancing at it as well. "The clean ones tend to just turn to dust within a minute, at most, but the irradiated ones can take a couple days before they do it. Plus, the irradiated ones bleed and have some other body fluids that the normal ones don't."

Rhonwen let out a breath as she looked at the Grimm, then shook her head fiercely. "Thanks, Volka," she said, a very light blush on her cheeks.

"Ah, you're all embarrassed and stuff!" Volka said teasingly, wrapping an arm around the Schnee. "That's so cute!"

Colby sighed, his dark eyes full of annoyance, even more than Glenys's. "If you two are done, we have a Vault-Tec facility to loot," he said, his voice practically a growl.

"Jeez, there's no need to be snippy," Volka said, rolling her eyes as she released Rhonwen and started towards the factory with the rest of the group.

"After all of the chatter from this slut the whole journey, I think there's plenty of reason," Colby said, glancing irritably at Rhonwen.

"Least I'm not an asshole," Rhonwen mumbled, letting out a sigh of her own. "So, what can we expect from this?" she asked as they entered the factory through the ruined section.

The interior was nearly the same as the exterior, made from worn and degraded concrete and covered in a thick layer of dust. Abandoned machinery of all sorts littered the factory's main floor, nearly obscuring the doors to the side rooms, and multiple boxes, made from an assortment of materials from rotting wood to rusted steel, were scattered about almost randomly. The reek of rusty steel and rotted machine oil, along with someone that was sickly sweet and unknown to her, hit Rhonwen in the face as she stepped through the hole in the wall, making her recoil and retch.

"Gods, what's that smell?" she coughed out, pulling a cloth from one of the pockets of her coat and holding it over her mouth.

"Looks like some bodies," Sigal said, having gone in farther than the rest of them. He stood near one of the still intact metal boxes, looking down at the floor behind it. "Can you determine the cause of death, Doctor?" Rhonwen approached hesitantly, grimacing at the growing smell as she neared the lavender-haired man.

True to his word, there was a corpse rotting behind the box. Its face had been partially caved by something large and boxy, and dried blood had soaked its hair, shirt, and skirt so thoroughly that their original colors had turned various shades of murky brown.

"Ugh," Rhonwen groaned, forcing herself to look at the body. "Bullets, most likely," she said, gesturing to the numerous perforations in the corpse's clothes. Still holding the cloth over her mouth, she drew a heavy rubber glove from another pocket of her jacket and struggled to put it on. Sigal glanced at it, then frowned questioningly at her; instead of answering, the moment she'd managed to put the glove on, Rhonwen grabbed the body by its shoulder and rolled it over, looking at its back as thoroughly as she could stand before releasing it and backing a few steps away. "Probably small caliber, given the number of exit wounds."

"How does that tell you the caliber?" Colby asked, frowning at her with a mix of suspicion and annoyance. It looked a bit sillier than he'd have liked, however, given that he was halfway through climbing up one of the factory's pieces of machinery.

"Better bullets probably would've gone through her in more places," Rhonwen said, stumbling through her words as she gagged at the scent. "As far as I could tell, there were only two bullet holes in her back, but more than a dozen in her chest."

"How long?" Sigal asked.

Rhonwen shook her head. "More than a few hours, less than a week? I'd have to do a full autopsy to know for sure."

"I'm more concerned about what killed her," Volka said, frowning at the corpse as she walked past it. "And all of her friends," she added, looking around further in at the nearly two dozen corpses littering the building. "Gods, no wonder it stinks in here."

"Looks like most of them died facing inward," Colby noted, having climbed on top of what looked like a 3d printer sized to print something as large as a car. "If they all have wounds on their chests, we'll need to be careful moving forward."

"We came here looking for a Vault," Glenys said, glancing up at him with a bit of annoyance. "We should be careful in the first place. Now, get down from there. You look like a fool."

Colby glanced down at her, then nodded, agilely leaping down as if his armor weighed little more than cloth would. "What's the plan here?"

"Any sign of an office?" Sigal asked, looking around.

"Over here!" Rhonwen called out, looking into a small room made from walls of pressboard. "It looks like its got a working terminal, too!"

"Scribe Flora, go see what you can find," Sigal said; at his command, Glenys reacted instantly, walking to the sectioned off area with only a single harsh frown at the soft-spoken man. "Knight Drake, stand ready for battle."

"Ah, shit," Colby said, his eyes tracking the walls and ceiling. "What did you feel, sir?"

"Unease and battle tension," Sigal said, examining his weapon. "Miss Locke, Miss Schnee, we're likely to see combat soon."

"How do you know that?" Volka asked, suspicion making her eyes narrow.

"My Semblance is an instinctive sort of prescience," Sigal explained, not even sparing a glance at the blonde. "It has its uses. Like now, for instance."

Almost as if on cue, a loud alarm began to sound, recessed lighting on the ceiling shrouding parts of the factory in red light; many of the lights had broken, however, and the contrast of artificial and natural light bred shadows along the walls. Parts of the far wall shuddered, sliding back along a track before being raised up.

Beyond the wall's hidden area, there were dozens of mechanical guards.

They were shaped like common depictions of knights, not unlike the armor the Brotherhood members were wearing. Many of them were covered in rust; those that weren't were made from metal of a slightly different color, which shone in the mixed lighting. Red lights began appearing behind their grated visors, and they began lifting their arms in groups, their hands withdrawing into their bulky arms and ejecting either blades or rotating guns.

"Intruders," their robotic voices said in unison, filling the factory with enough sound to drown out the keening alarm. "Identify yourselves."

"Get to cover!" Volka shouted, turning on her heel and tackling Rhonwen behind a metal shipping container. Colby mimicked the gesture, albeit a tad more gracefully; he ducked behind the machine he'd climbed mere moments ago, where Sigal had already been hiding for a few seconds.

"Scribe, what happened?!" Sigal demanded as bullets began flying, colliding against their cover and filling the room with a cacophony of screaming metal.

"I tripped some sort of alarm!" Glenys yelled back, wary fear evident in her voice. From her position, Rhonwen could see the Scribe typing furiously on the office's terminal, her eyes taking in the entirety of the screen at once. "Give me a minute!"

"You heard her!" Sigal said, flicking off the safety on his rifle. He rose up in a crouch, braced it against the edge of his cover, and fired, sending a ray of chilling blue-grey light at one of the gunner robots; where it collided, ice grew, and in only three seconds the robot was fully encased in it. "Let's buy her some time!"

"Yes, Sir!" Colby growled out, a wild grin appearing on his face as he lunged out from behind his cover at one of the approaching bladed robots, slamming his gauntleted fist into its head. The metal of its neck whined as it was ripped apart by the sheer force of his blow, sending its head flying into a wall and its body collapsing to the floor. Before the gunnery robots could target him, he was already back in cover, readying himself for another pounce at one of the other bladed robots.

Only for a white glyph, a circle with eight arrows pointing in every direction, to appear beneath it. The glyph glowed brightly as it unleashed its power, flinging the robot thirty feet up to collide with the ceiling; bits of shattered metal fell with it as it fell to the ground, where it landed on one of the gunners, smashing it into the floor and disabling both of them.

"Remind me not to piss you off in the future, Rhonwen!" Volka called to the white-haired young woman, a grin much like Colby's drawn across her face as she darted into a group of three bladed robots. Her sword clove cleanly through one of them, shearing through the top of its head and out from its left hip, as she ducked beneath the attack of another. She rammed a fist into the third one as it attempted to stab at her, knocking it away from her, and spun with the momentum, cleaving her blade through the robot that tried to attack her first. As the third robot returned, she knocked it onto one of its fallen brethren with a kick, then plunged her sword through the both of them, triggering an explosion that sent her flying away as their Dust cores were penetrated.

"Volka!" Rhonwen yelled, worry clear in her voice as she watched the blonde go airborne. She motioned with her hands, white light appearing at her fingertips as a glyph, black but otherwise identical to the first one she'd conjured, appeared around Volka, halting her momentum.

"Yahoo!" Volka shouted gleefully, glancing down at Rhonwen before looking to the gunner robots, which were still mostly grouped together. "Send me at them!" she said, pointing her sword at them as they began taking aim at her.

Rhonwen complied, the black glyph tilting upwards and pulsing white as it threw Volka at the robots she'd designated. Before she could see what came from it, though, one of the bladed models appeared in front of her, jabbing its weapon into her shoulder.

Rhonwen grunted, more from fear than pain, as her Aura sparked around the blade, pushing her away from the attack. She spun with the momentum, ducking low and sweeping her leg at the robot's ankles, knocking it off its feet. As it fell to the ground, Rhonwen spun around completely again, rising as she did, then slammed the side of her fist down into the robot's chest with a burst of white light as she flared her Aura through the strike.

At least, that was what she attempted to do: her hand bounced off the construct's metal chest the way it would a metal wall, making her hiss in pain and draw her hand back with only a minuscule dent made from her efforts. It swiped its bladed arm at her, but she rolled backwards away from it, winding up on her feet and with a great deal of respect for Colby; as she'd retreated, he had crushed the robot's head under his heel as if it had been as fragile as an aluminum can.

"Get down!" Colby yelled, lunging at Rhonwen. She flung herself to the ground, turning as she fell to see him slam his shoulder into the chest plating of the robot that had come up behind her, hard enough to cave it in slightly. Sparks flew and electricity sang through the air as its power source was crushed, and Colby grit his teeth around a scream as he was electrocuted, even through his Aura.

Sigal fired again, sending a streaking beam of red light right past the back of Volka's head and into a bladed robot that had tried to flank her, melting a hole the size of a bowling ball through its head. She barely noticed, instead wrenching her sword from the chest of the gunner robot she'd just felled. "Nice shot!" she called over to him, stepping over the pile of robotic bodies she'd made to cleave her sword through the arm of another construct.

Almost as quickly as it had begun, the battle ended, the few intact robots slumping as their eyelights dimmed to nothing. It took the Humans a moment to notice, however, as they continued to attack until they realized what had happened.

Glenys stepped out from the office she'd been working in, a haughty smirk on her face as she proclaimed, "I disabled the security systems."

"Would've been better if you hadn't activated them in the first place, but I'll take it," Volka said, leaning her sword up against her shoulder in a lazy gesture.

"Any injuries?" Sigal asked as the group reconvened. He and Rhonwen looked over everyone as they all said that they were fine, only for them to pause when they reached Colby. "You've been shot," Sigal said, his voice as monotonous and tired as ever as he glanced at the dark-haired man's leg.

A pair of holes had been punched through the metal armor, on opposite sides of his leg. Blood had come out from the front of his thigh, speckling his armor with droplets of red, and it made his boot squelch with every step he took.

"I'm fine," Colby lied blatantly, even as Rhonwen shoved him so that he was sitting on one of the cleaner metal crates. He looked up at her with an angry scowl, only to recoil in shock at the sheer focus and determination in her eyes.

"No, you're not," Rhonwen said sternly, surprising him; he'd grown used to her flirtier tones over the miles-long journey. "If that bullet hit an artery, you could be dead within minutes. If it hit a vein, we've got a bit more time. But I can't tell through the armor, nor can I treat you through it, so you need to take it off. Right now."

"You're not giving me stitches," Colby growled, hesitantly complying with Rhonwen's demand and undoing the belts and straps that held on his armor.

"I will if I need to," Rhonwen said, pulling out a box of medical supplies while she waited for Colby to strip. "Even if I have to bind your arms and legs, I'll do what I have to do, if it means keeping an idiot like you alive."

Colby stared at her for a moment, pausing his doffing as he watched the white-haired doctor begin sifting through her supplies. "Just make it quick," he finally said, resigned, and pulled off the last bit of metal plating that had covered his leg.

"Your pants, too," Rhonwen said, flexing her hands within the thin rubber gloves that she'd donned.

"Fine," Colby grumbled, pulling down his pants and revealing the plain beige boxers he'd worn, as well as the open wound that was steadily oozing blood. Rhonwen poked a finger at the wound, mumbling something under her breath that Colby couldn't quite catch.

"It looks like it split the vein," Rhonwen said after a moment, wiping away some of the blood with a cloth. "I need a nurse," she added, glancing over her shoulder at their companions.

"Sure, what'ch'ya need me to do?" Volka asked, her hands behind her head as she moved to stand next to Rhonwen.

"When I say go, I need you to spray some of this into his wound," Rhonwen said, handing her a small glass bottle with a dropper built into the lid. The grey-purple liquid it contained was faintly glowing, casting a shadow across Rhonwen's face. "I need you to hold still for me, okay, Colby?" Rhonwen asked, glancing up at the man whose leg she was working on. "This is going to hurt, a lot, so I need you to do your best to hold as still as possible, okay?"

"Just do it already," Colby mumbled, clenching his jaw and shutting his eyes.

"Okay," Rhonwen said, picking up a pair of fine metal tweezers and wiping them down with a sterile pad. "I'm going to start now," she said, spreading open the wound with her fingers and working the tweezers into it. Colby grunted, sweat beading on his forehead, as Rhonwen pinched one end of the torn vein with the tweezers and dragged it closer to the other. When the two were touching, she said, "Now, Volka."

Volka squirted the glowing solution into the wound, just as instructed. Where the fluid met torn flesh, it smoked and glowed even brighter, and Colby swallowed the scream that threatened to leave his lips.

"What did I just do?" Volka asked worriedly, screwing the cap back onto the bottle and setting it down near Rhonwen's medical kit.

"That was a Dust-based solution," Rhonwen explained, withdrawing her tweezers from Colby's wound as the vein seemed to fuse back together and the wound itself shrank ever-so-slightly. As she set about stitching up the wound, on both sides of Colby's leg, she continued, saying, "Made from a mixture of Air, Fire, and Water Dusts, it causes rapid cellular regeneration in anything that has Aura. As far as I know, we don't have much of it in Yang's Rest, and the other doctor told me to only use it for aiding in suppression of rapid blood loss."

"Huh," Volka said, watching as Rhonwen wrapped a length of linen bandage around Colby's leg; the blood flowing from his wound had slowed to a trickle, and it hadn't even started showing through the first layer by the time Rhonwen had wrapped it around a second time.

"There," Rhonwen said, inspecting her handiwork for a moment before nodding to herself. "I'd tell you to get plenty of rest, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible at the moment, so just try to stay off of that leg every chance you get. Get plenty to eat and drink over the next few days, and if you feel any fatigue, take a break from whatever you're doing for a few minutes, at least. You got that?"

"Yeah, yeah," Colby said, pulling his pants back up the moment Rhonwen gave him a chance.

"Ah, so soon?" Rhonwen whined teasingly, making Colby blush. "I didn't even get a good look at it!"

Before he could get wrapped up listening to their discussion, Sigal turned to Glenys and said, "Is the terminal still open?"

"Yes, sir," Glenys said, welcoming the diversion from Rhonwen's antics.

"Find me the blueprints to this facility," Sigal said, drawing an affirming nod from her. "And see if you can determine any other security we might find, as well as if you can disable it."

"Yes, sir."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer Dream was having a nightmare. That must be what it was; after all, no one was left alive to be firing guns.

She knew that for a fact: she'd gone back to Albus's corpse and checked his PIP-Boy to make sure, before running out of the Vault again, fighting the urge to cry and vomit.

Her PIP-Boy was the only one still showing signs of life.

She drew her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her knees, slowly rocking herself as the gunfire stopped less than a minute after it had begun. She clenched her eyes tightly shut, weeping into her legs, though she was so dehydrated that nothing was coming out from her dry eyes.

When she heard the scrape of metal on metal, she flinched, letting out a desperate cry as her addled mind told her that it was one of the security mechs, coming to finish her off, despite the fact that she'd shut them all down using the manual override only yesterday.

So when she saw two feminine faces staring down into the cavern, one topped with short white hair and the other with long blonde hair, she froze, unable to even understand what she was seeing.

The white-haired one frowned, turning her head down to face her arm, and said, "Hold on. I think I see something."

A moment later, light bloomed from the PIP-Boy at her wrist, a purple-and-pink painted model, and the blonde's eyes widened as she saw Summer.

"Hey!" the blonde called out, hurrying into the room, not caring that her companion was left confused behind her. "Are you okay?"

Summer flinched again as the blonde reached her and kneeled beside her. Summer swallowed, her hand shaking as she reached from the blonde's, still unable to understand.

"Are you... are you real?" Summer asked, her voice quiet and dry. "I'm not dreaming again... am I?"

"No. No you're not," the blonde said, smiling gently at her as she took her hand and squeezed it soothingly. The white-haired woman approached, also kneeling beside her as she came near. "We're real. We're here."

"Volka, she has a bullet in her shoulder," the white-haired woman said, slipping off her backpack and pulling out a compact medical kit.

"Okay, Rhonwen," the blonde, Volka, said to her companion. Squeezing Summer's hand again, she said, "We're going to help you, okay. But... what happened?"

Summer's throat tightened again, and she looked at the massive, gear-shaped door to the Vault itself, which was still hanging wide open. "They... they're all..." Summer tried to say what had happened to her, but couldn't, the words unable to leave her throat.

But they found out soon enough.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer's throat constricted yet again as she stared up at the vast expanse of blue lit by the brightest light she'd ever seen, unbroken save for a few scattered patches of white. It went on and on, as far as she could see, and she would have fallen to her knees from fear if not for Rhonwen's arm around her shoulders.

"I know, it's scary when you first see it," Rhonwen said soothingly, staring up at the sky with the now-former Vault dweller. "I'd say you'll get used to it, but... I'm still getting used to it, to be honest. But, hey, we can get used to it together, okay?" Rhonwen asked, trying to keep talking to help Summer keep her mind off of everything.

Summer ran her tongue over her lips, still cracked and dry despite the water they'd given her. She shuddered, pressing herself closer to Rhonwen without saying a word, turning her gaze to the ground as she began to hyperventilate.

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Colby asked Volka, the two of them watching the exchange between the two former Vault dwellers.

"Eventually," Volka said, unable to stop staring at Summer. Something about her jogged something in the blonde's memory, making her wonder if it was at all possible that she'd seen her before, even though she knew it was impossible.

"Are you prepared to fend off the Grimm she'll attract?" Colby asked, raising up his hands defensively when Volka turned to scowl at him. "I know, it's cold, but it's a fact of life. They come running whenever someone feels fear or sorrow, and she has to be one of the brightest beacons they could hope for."

Volka sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to watch Summer again. "She'll be fine," Volka said firmly. "Yang's Rest will be able to protect her. We just have to get her there, first."

"Okay," Colby said, his shoulders slumping. After a moment, he sighed, then said, "Listen, can you do something for me?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Can you tell Rhonwen I'm sorry for how I've been acting?" Colby asked, making Volka blink in surprise and turn to stare at him. "I'm not normally..." He paused, sighed, then began again. "I'm not normally that much of an asshole."

"Ah, I get it," Volka said, letting out a tired, breathy chuckle. "You're the type of person who has a hard time being around overly sexual people."

"Y-yeah," Colby said, trying to growl, as his cheeks turned pink. "Look, just, tell her I'm sorry, okay?"

Volka laughed again, giving the armored man a smile. "Sure thing."

"We'll need more people to properly search the Vault," Sigal said to Glenys, who was still a bit green from the initial search that she and her fellows had done of the rooms closest to the Vault's entrance. "Ideally, we set up an outpost here and grow it into a fallback from the Mine, but I don't imagine the Elders would be willing to commit the personnel to that."

"Yes, sir," Glenys said, typing on her PIP-Boy's foldout keyboard. "Should we go to listening post on Patch to transmit the information? Or should we attempt to assemble a workable radio transmitter with enough range to reach them with the parts that we have available here?"

"The listening post is the better option," Sigal said, glancing at the others around them to make sure none of the outsiders had heard her. "None of us have the background in engineering to make assembling our own transmitter a valid option."

"But, sir, I –"

"You repaired a short-range transmitter to the point that it could broadcast at half its normal range, I know, but that doesn't translate to building one from scratch," Sigal said, cutting her off. "We'll need to secure a boat, but that shouldn't be too difficult."

"Yes, sir," Glenys said, letting out a sigh as she glared at him. After a few moments of typing and swiping at the screen of her PIP-Boy, she added, "The Viridian Outpost is the nearest Brotherhood controlled facility we could get a boat from. It is... forty-six miles, west by northwest."

"Then we know our path, Scribe," Sigal said, catching Colby's attention with a motion of his hand. "There's still a few hours of daylight left. We should start our course."

"Yes, sir," Glenys said as Colby neared.

"Goodbye!" Volka called out, waving as the Brotherhood members started off. "Remember: fifteen percent!"

Rhonwen sighed as Summer refused to look up at the sky again, despite her coaxing, instead glancing at the swath of bandages wrapped around her shoulder. Rhonwen couldn't even begin to guess what Summer was thinking as her brow furrowed and her eyes misted with tears, nor what she thought as she set her jaw and shook her head, looking up to meet Rhonwen's eyes.

"I know it hurts," Rhonwen said in a whisper, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "I had to leave my own Vault two weeks ago." Summer glanced at the yellow 22 on Rhonwen's jacket, blinking uncomprehendingly for a second before her eyes widened with understanding. "It wasn't... I was exiled, not like... like what happened here, but... it still hurts, knowing that I'll never see them again."

Rhonwen trailed off, letting out another sigh as she looked away. Summer stared at her for a long moment, then reached out and wrapped her hand around Rhonwen's, startling the white-haired woman. Summer's silver eyes were mostly blank, but a bit of sympathy showed through the blanket of depression that tried to smother her.

"Thank you," Rhonwen said, giving Summer a smile. "If you want to talk, I'm right here. If you don't, well, I'm still right here, okay?"

"Hey," Volka said, approaching them with her hands up behind her head. "Are you okay to travel?" she asked Summer, drawing a blank look from her.

"I think she is," Rhonwen said, still holding Summer's hand. "We live in a settlement pretty close to here, Summer. Well, it's apparently close," she added, glancing pointedly at Volka, who only grinned in response. "According to her, fifteen miles is 'close'."

"It is when you travel as often as I do," Volka said, rolling her eyes as her grin widened. Turning her grin to Summer, she said, "Our home's called Yang's Rest. If you want, you can stay there permanently, but now's not the time to be asking that. I mean, you haven't even seen it yet!"

"Volka," Rhonwen said, a warning tone in her voice. Summer blinked at Volka, the name 'Yang' triggering something in her memory, but her mind was so sluggish that whatever it was refused to surface.

Volka chuckled, starting to walk backwards, southwest, towards her home. "Come on! Daylight's burning!" she called to them, still chuckling as she turned around.

For a brief moment, Summer's lips turned up at the corners as Rhonwen wrapped an arm around her shoulders again, walking with her as they both followed the enthusiastic blonde.

For as long as she'd lived in her Vault, Summer had only heard two theories about what was outside the Vault. The first said that the world outside was so saturated with radiation that nothing could possibly live through it, that the world was little more than dust and grit and a painful death. The second said that the world outside was so saturated with radiation that it had mutated everything that still lived, resulting in hideous monsters that killed without thought or reason.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she'd find people willing to help someone, especially not someone in straits like her own.

Despite herself, despite everything that had just happened to her, and despite the haze of depression that tried to swallow her whole, Summer felt hope for her future.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Well, that's the end of the rewritten chapter 1. It was considerably harder to actually end than I originally though it would be, especially since I've already written this chapter once before.

Colby wound up being much less of a dick this time around, but I still wanted to have a scene between him and Volka at the end, just to have some similarity between the rewrite and the original version. He did wind up being more of a dick to Rhonwen this time around, too, so that wound up working out. Plus, it helped me set up where the Brotherhood members go after this, which is something that I didn't actually talk about the first go around.

If I remember correctly, the Seraph and the Shade didn't show up in the AN in this chapter. I've been thinking about it recently, and I don't think I'll be bringing them back in the same way this time around. They still might occasionally interrupt the story for one reason or another, but I'll be considerably more clear about which one is which, and they won't be telling the story in the AN sections of the story, so I'll still be able to talk to you guys in them. These. Whatever.

It's been long enough that doing this rewrite is considerably easier than when I first decided to do it, so odds are you'll be getting the rewritten chapters more frequently than once a year. I still find this fun, and I still want to get deep into this story; you haven't seen anything yet, even if you've read the chapters before the rewrite.

Until next time.


	3. Chapter 2

This chapter has been rewritten.

And we're back. For today's opening spiel, let's start talking about the organizations in this story.

Specifically: The Brotherhood of Dust.

The Brotherhood is an odd organization: to be quite honest, it's actually a poor introduction to the various states and organizations, due to the oddities surrounding its founding. The Brotherhood was made when a few Vaults began failing only twenty years after the bombs dropped due to issues that Vault-Tec never discovered, such as one Vault's proximity to a vein of Fire Dust that wound off contaminating their water supply after an earthquake; due to their close proximity to each other, they wound up banding together and sharing their resources to survive in a world that was still heavily irradiated.

Unfortunately for them, there wasn't enough to go around. Medical supplies started dwindling rapidly as people grew sick from radiation poisoning, tainted water, unsanitary cookware, and all sorts of other natural and unnatural calamities; clean water was a precious resource that was typically reserved for children and the sickly; and the multiple Overseers had a hard time agreeing on anything in that time of crisis. By the time the world became less hazardous to live on, more than two-thirds of the Vaults' populations had died from disease, radiation, and Grimm attacks.

Only one Overseer survived what became known to them as "the culling", despite her advanced age and crippled leg. Blake Belladonna, who'd been chosen by Vault-Tec to be the first Overseer of Vault 37, pulled the surviving remnants of their Vaults together and all but forced them into cooperating. Working together, they were able to settle the part of the world they found themselves in: farms were established by transplanting the various crops from the underground fields in the Vaults, irrigation accomplished thanks to their intact water purifiers and lots of hard work, and homes built from scrap metal and the few trees they'd been able to find in the plains they now lived in.

As time passed, the Brotherhood began to flourish in every way except one: population. Despite their success in colonizing the plains, many of the survivors from the Vaults had coincidentally been homosexual, which Blake found rather alarming; the future of both humanity, both of Humans and Faunus, was dependent on repopulation, and Blake had to make a hard decision about how to handle this issue.

The answer that she found kindest was to establish a selective breeding program. Everyone, upon turning sixteen, would be obligated to finding a partner to reproduce with, no matter their sexuality. If they had not found a partner by the time they turned eighteen, one would be chosen for them based on genetic compatibility, as determined by examining their meticulously recorded family trees and medical records. Most in the Brotherhood found it harsh, but acceptable, with only a few people leaving over it.

Nearly a hundred years had passed before the breeding laws were examined again. Those who had been born and raised after they'd been implemented had been willing to live under them, just accepting them as a fact of life, but there were a few who saw them as far too lenient.

Unfortunately for the homosexuals who had until then lived peacefully within the Brotherhood, their next leader was Elder Cybele Winters. Thanks to the pull she held with the Brotherhood's military police, Cybele was able to implement and enact laws that resulted in the exile of any homosexuals, whether they were willing to contribute to the growth of the population or not, as well as laws to keep outsiders from joining the Brotherhood for any reason. Under her rule, and later her son's, the Brotherhood became drastically more militaristic, and only in the last decade have those laws begun to be unraveled by dissidents unhappy with them.

Well, that's enough of that. Let's get to the story!

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

"Welcome to Yang's Rest!" Volka said, spreading both arms wide as she, Summer, and Rhonwen made their way through one of the gates in the broad wooden walls reinforced with bands of assorted metals. "Friendliest town in the Wasteland!"

"There's no need to oversell it, Volka," Rhonwen said, rolling her eyes at the blonde's enthusiasm as Summer stared at the town around them.

Summer was both awestruck and underwhelmed by what she saw: streets paved with worked stones of varying size wound between buildings that had been patched up somewhat sloppily after the centuries of degradation; towers more than forty feet tall and made from the same metal-banded wood of the walls jutted out from among the shorter buildings, several of them bearing a man or woman with a rifle slung over their back and a pair of binoculars in their hands; and, most importantly, people.

People, Human and Faunus alike, just milling about, talking among themselves and carrying on with their lives. It was something that Summer hadn't thought _existed_ beyond the Vault she'd lived in, and even through the exhaustion from walking more miles than she'd ever gone in her entire life, she was stunned by the sight of them. Even her tail had stilled, no longer swaying idly like it had been for much of their journey.

"I know how you feel," Rhonwen said, wrapping an arm around Summer's shoulders and walking with her after Volka. "At least this isn't much of a change, right?"

Summer swallowed, meekly nodding her head. Despite how tired she felt, Summer felt her sorrow surging within her, bringing fresh tears to her eyes and threatening to overwhelm her again, but she forced herself to focus on more positive things, like the people she'd already met.

"So!" Volka said suddenly, turning on her heel and walking backwards through the town. "I'll bet you're pretty tired, huh, Summer? Why don't we get you set up with a hot meal and a bed for the night, okay?"

Summer stared at her a bit blankly, then nodded her head again.

"We don't have any empty houses right now, since Asra brought some people in the other day, but the common house still has plenty of beds in it," Volka said, smiling brightly at the Faunus. "You should be fine there for as long as you want to stay, okay?"

Rhonwen sighed at the blank look on Summer's face, shaking her head. "Not in the state she's in," Rhonwen said, gesturing to the shoulder she'd patched up earlier. "I want to keep an eye on her, and the house Ferrer gave me still has two empty bedrooms in it."

Volka raised an eyebrow at Rhonwen, saying, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Her frown, as well as her tone, said more than her words, and Rhonwen bristled at the implication, her eyes flashing with outrage.

"Yes, I'm sure," the Schnee said, her voice absolutely dripping with sweetness, so much so that it was impossible not to notice the edge buried beneath it. "I'm not much of a cook, though," Rhonwen continued bitterly after a moment, much of her fervor having left her. "I assume you have an idea for that, as well?"

Volka rolled her shoulders awkwardly, not sure if she should apologize or not after such a blatant attempt to move the conversation along, then said, "I'm a decent cook. Not the best there is, but I can get the job done." She turned back around to face the road, adding, "Come on, we'll go to my place. We can get you some clothes, too, Summer, while we're there."

"I doubt your clothes would fit her," Rhonwen said snarkily.

"Yeah, me too, but my roommate's about the same size as her," Volka said, glancing over her shoulder and giving both of them a smile. "She's got a similar figure, too, though you'll probably find the shirt a bit loose in the chest."

"I thought you lived with Ferrer?" Rhonwen asked, frowning at the blonde.

"So does Asra," Volka said. "She's out of town about as much as I am, since she's a courier and all. And even when we're both in town, I still barely ever see her, since her Semblance relies on moonlight–" Summer blinked at the word Semblance, confused, only for Volka to continue as if she'd said something mundane, "–so she sleeps during the day, most days," Volka finished, letting out a deep sigh, slowly losing herself in her thoughts, only to be startled out of them by a shrill beep coming from her PIP-Boy.

 _You back yet? Ferrer wants to take a look at the parts you brought back. Something about the H2O purifier?_

"Uh," Volka said, a light blush forming on her cheeks as she smiled sheepishly down at the device. "Oops."

 _Be there in a bit_ , Volka replied, her fingers all but dancing across the simulated keyboard on the PIP-Boy's touch sensitive screen. _I'll explain then._

"Well, I'm about to get the mother of all chewing-outs," Volka said, chuckling as she stretched her arms over her head. "So it looks like you'll be getting a show along with dinner, huh?"

"Why?" Rhonwen asked, once again frowning at the blonde.

"You'll see soon enough," Volka said with a sigh, shaking her head. She made a turn down another street, and as Summer and Rhonwen followed they saw the comparatively large house she was heading towards. It wasn't in the best shape, made from unpainted wood and bits of scrap metal, but the rest of the houses in Yang's Rest were no better. Two stories tall and twice as broad as some of the other homes they'd passed by, it had likely belonged to a rather wealthy family before the bombs dropped. "Home sweet home," Volka said, the smile on her face disappearing when she saw the door fly open.

"What the hell did you mean by 'you'll explain'?" Ferrer growled at Volka, making her scratch the back of her neck sheepishly as she grinned at him.

"Well, uh, we kinda got distracted by–" Volka began to explain, only for Ferrer to interrupt her.

"What do you mean, you got distracted?" Ferrer asked, his growl deepening. "What the hell could possibly–"

"Shut up," Rhonwen cut in firmly, only barely raising her voice. Coming from a woman he only knew as being rather subdued and depressed, Ferrer blinked in surprise at the ferocity in her voice. "We found an injured girl who needs something good in her life after all the shit she's just gone through," Rhonwen said, gently placing a hand on Summer's uninjured shoulder. "And right now, a half-decent meal. So," Rhonwen said, pushing past Ferrer into the house and pulling Summer along with her.

It took Ferrer a moment to fully process what had happened. He'd opened the door to give Volka a piece of his mind, asking how she'd managed to forget to even look for the parts she'd been asked to gather, and was thoroughly surprised by the rock-hard tone of voice that the town's new doctor had used, as well as the young, barely-there woman who she was dragging behind her into his home.

"What just happened?" Ferrer asked when he had finally regained his voice, prompting a somewhat fearful giggle from Volka. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, further bewildering him, and guided him back inside.

"Yeah, she can be forceful when she's got her mind set on something," Volka said, smiling after the two young women as she closed the door behind them. Once she'd noticed Rhonwen had paused only a few feet in, not seeming sure of where to go from there, Volka said, "Kitchen's through that door."

Rhonwen glanced back at her and sighed in relief. "Thanks, Volka," she said, offering a smile to the blonde woman.

"Hey, start boiling a couple pots of water for me, would you?" Volka asked just before Rhonwen walked through the door, making the younger-yet-taller woman pause and raise an eyebrow at her. "What? I can cook. I just need to talk to Ferrer real quick, okay?"

Rhonwen glanced between the two of them, having to swallow a giggle at the confused state the town's mayor was still in, and nodded at her. "Consider it done," Rhonwen said, stepping through the door to the combined kitchen and dining room. After pulling a chair out from the large oak table and coaxing Summer into sitting down at it, she started searching through the cabinets for a pot, only barely noticing the large metal device that sat next to the table, a hatch open on its side that revealed its internal mechanisms.

Volka pulled Ferrer through a different door, her heart sinking when she noticed her other roommate lounging on one of the two couches it held, her eyes locked to the PIP-Boy she was wearing as she read the eBook displayed on its screen. "Sorry about all that, but..." Volka trailed off with a sigh, shaking her head as Ferrer scowled at her expectantly.

"What, Volka?" Ferrer asked, his voice much less heated than it had been only a few moments ago, surprising and worrying her. He even drew Asra's attention, not that either of them noticed. "What, exactly, was so damn important that you completely forgot about the fact that _we don't have clean water_?"

Volka frowned at him, though she was inwardly relieved that he was raising his voice again. "That girl that Rhonwen was dragging along? She's from a Vault," Rhonwen began, drawing a nod from Ferrer; he had seen Summer's jumpsuit, after all, including the bloodstained gunshot wound in her shoulder. "Well, uh... she's the only person from her Vault who's still alive."

Ferrer recoiled, rocking back on his heels as he stared wide-eyed at her. "What?"

"Yeah, uh... as far as we can tell, all the robots in her Vault went rogue and just... started killing everyone," Volka said, swallowing at the lump in her throat as she remembered how hard it had been for Summer to tell them anything. "She got out, and managed to shut them down, but... I think she knows – I mean, for certain – That everyone's gone."

Ferrer shook his head, clenching his jaw as he processed what Volka had just said. "Damn," he finally said, letting out a long breath through his nose. "I'm sorry for acting like an ass about those parts, V. Just... damn."

"We can help her out, right?" Volka asked, one hand gripping her other arm timidly. "I know that it might take some time, and that... that it wouldn't be ideal from a, uh, logistical standpoint, but we can help her, right? Keep her alive long enough that she can survive on her own, if she wants to?"

"Count me in," Asra said, startling Volka enough to make the blonde let out a squeaky yelp. The black-haired Faunus rose to her feet, shifting her head to one side to pop some tension from the joints in her neck; she stretched her arms as well, her tank top riding up far enough to reveal the toned muscles of her abdomen.

"Oh, Asra," Volka said, letting out a sigh of relief and offering her a shaky smile. "Sorry. You were so quiet I, uh, must have forgotten you were there?"

Asra laughed, rolling her eyes as she returned the blonde's smile. "If she's fresh from a Vault, then odds are she needs to learn everything there is to know about the Wasteland. Like that Rhonwen girl does, right?"

"I think she'd say she knows enough, but yeah, basically," Ferrer said.

"So, since Ferrer's busy most of the time, and I think you've got a caravan you need to guard in a couple days," Asra said, making Volka grimace and nod, "I could teach her. Rhonwen could stand to learn a few things from me, too, and I don't think I've actually had a conversation with her yet."

"Don't you need to leave for Sanctum soon?" Ferrer asked, making Asra sigh, her shoulders slumping.

"When don't I?" Asra asked, smiling weakly at both him and Volka. "Given how little rain we've been getting the last few weeks, I think I can put off leaving for a week or so, if I need to." Asra yawned, then added, "Plus, my sleep schedule's been screwed up for a while now. Moon's setting before the sun rises and rising again around noon, so right now I'm as close to diurnal as I can be."

"Diurnal?" Volka asked.

"The opposite of nocturnal: awake in the day and asleep at night," Ferrer explained, making Volka sigh and rub at her cheek bashfully. "Anyway, Asra," he said, turning his attention back to the black-haired Faunus, "even though we have that decided, where's the newcomer going to sleep tonight? I'd say that the common room's out, since it's only halfway built right now."

"Huh? Since when?" Volka asked, surprised.

"Since Storm and I decided it was too much of a fire hazard and started rebuilding it with fresher wood," Ferrer said. Volka flinched at the name Storm, the grimaced and sighed.

"Anyway, it's not an issue," she said, shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts gathering within. "Rhonwen already volunteered one of the rooms in her house."

"Good," Asra said. "Having a doctor keeping an eye on her should make it a lot easier for her to get better."

A knock sounded on the wall next to the doorway, making Asra jump, startled, as she and her roommates turned to face Rhonwen. "Uh, sorry to interrupt," Rhonwen said, smiling somewhat timidly at the three.

"I'll be right back!" Asra squeaked out, hurrying to the nearby staircase that lead to the house's second floor. Rhonwen raised an eyebrow at the sight, though she paid more attention to the way Asra's rear bounced and jiggled beneath the tight shorts she was wearing than the haste of her retreat.

"Was that–" Rhonwen began, only to be cut off by Volka laughing hard enough to make her double over.

"Asra wasn't expecting company," Ferrer said, letting out a chuckle of his own. "Is there something you need, Rhonwen?"

"Uh, yeah. Right," she said, watching with some amusement as Volka's laughter wound down and turned into a fit of giggling. "One of those pots of water you wanted started boiling, Volka."

"Great. Thanks, Rhonwen," she said, swallowing another giggle as she glanced at the staircase again.

"There's one other thing, though," Rhonwen said, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. "Um... that thing sitting on the floor next to the table... what is it?"

"A water purifier," Ferrer said, raising an eyebrow at the white-haired young woman. "But it's broken. Might be little more than salvage at this point, if I'm being honest with myself," he added with a sigh.

"Well, uh... I think Summer might have fixed it?" Rhonwen said, turning the statement into a question at the last moment. "I... couldn't get her to stop fiddling with it, and, uh... she stopped just before I came to get you, but I don't know if it was because I asked her or because she was finished."

"What?" Ferrer asked, walking passed her and clearing the short distance between the living room and the kitchen, Rhonwen and Volka trailing behind him.

Summer sat quietly, tiredly watching the machine beside the kitchen table as it hummed and vibrated, then leaned over to flip a switch on its side. Only after she turned the purifier off did she see that the others were watching her; she let out a near-silent yelp and nearly fell out of her chair at the surprise, her eyes wide with tired fear.

"I don't believe it," Ferrer said, his voice soft as he walked over to the water purifier and knelt beside it. "It's never hummed like that before. It was always..."

"Clunking about like a toddler with a wrench?" Volka offered helpfully, drawing a brief disapproving look from the mayor before he grunted concedingly.

"Basically," he said, turning his white eyes to Summer, who swallowed nervously at the attention. "You... you don't even know what this means to us, do you? How important this could be, now that you've fixed it?"

"I..." Summer began, trailing off as she seemed to shrink into herself, her tail hanging limply behind her.

"This could get us through the drought Ajax thinks is coming," Ferrer said, smiling up at her. "Thank you, Summer."

Volka chuckled softly, leaning over to Rhonwen and conspiratorially whispering, "I think I'm off the hook now. Right?" Rhonwen had to hold a hand over her mouth to keep her giggling inaudible, though it couldn't hide the smile she bore at the sight of Summer awkwardly smiling back at Ferrer.

"Uh... okay?" Summer's voice turned the statement into a question. She glanced over at the two women, hoping for something – she wasn't quite sure what – only to blush and stammer awkwardly as she saw the two of them silently laughing at the scene.

"Okay, okay," Rhonwen said, shaking her head as she took another few steps into the kitchen. "Volka, didn't you say you were going to cook something?"

"Oh, right!" Volka exclaimed, letting out another laugh as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I'll get right on that. Pasta and peafowl okay with everyone?"

"Peafowl?" Summer asked under her breath, confusion lacing her tone.

"It's a type of bird common in the nearby forest," Ferrer explained as he stood back up. "The males are called peacocks, which you might be more familiar with. They're not the best tasting poultry, but they're still good enough when Volka's cooking."

"Especially when she uses that spice mix she hoards," Asra said as she walked back into the room, startling Summer. She'd added a long black coat to her ensemble, one that buckled tightly over her chest and covered her legs nearly to the ankle with its girth. "It could make anything taste good."

"Oh, hi," Rhonwen said, smiling at her. "I don't think we've met yet. I'm–"

"Rhonwen Schnee," Asra said, extending a hand to her. "I've heard a bit about you. I'm Asra Belmont."

"One of the other founders," Rhonwen said, taking Asra's hand in her own and shaking it. "I've heard a bit about you, too. Namely that we have something in common."

"Don't make it weird," Asra said, drawing a laugh from Rhonwen as she pulled her hand back. Turning to Summer, she said, "Hello. It's nice to meet you, too."

"H-hi," Summer said awkwardly, flinching when Asra raised her hand to her the same way she did to Rhonwen. "I-I'm Summer Dream," she mumbled, timidly shaking Asra's hand as well. "Uh... when she said you had something in common..." Summer said, biting her lip as she looked over to Rhonwen for a moment, "wha-what did she mean?"

"I meant that we're both descended from a specific group of people," Rhonwen said, smiling patiently at Summer. "I'm sure you heard stories about the Huntsmen and Huntresses, right? Well, did you ever hear about Team RWBY?"

"Y-yeah," Summer said, swallowing nervously again. "My... my ancestor was on it. Ruby."

"Wait, what?!" Volka asked loudly, overhearing them. Her surprise resulted in a yelp of surprise and pain from her as she dropped the pasta she was holding into the pot of boiling water in a single lump, splashing her with the aforementioned water. "Ow!... Wait, you're descended from Ruby Rose?" she asked once she'd recovered, her eyes wide.

"U-um, yes?" Summer said, shrinking in her seat once more.

"I... I didn't... holy shit," Volka finally said, staring wide-eyed at the canine Faunus. "We're family. I mean, distant cousins, but... family."

"Huh?" Summer asked, blinking at her in return.

"Volka's descended from Yang Xiao Long," Asra explained, unable to keep herself from smiling at the two of them. "Yang and Ruby were half-sisters, so you're... really only barely related at all, but you're still related."

"Huh?" Summer repeated, her eyes going wide as she glanced over at Asra. "What?!"

"Holy shit," Volka repeated, biting her lower lip as she stared at Summer. "I... I..."

"You need to get back to cooking," Ferrer said, grabbing Volka's shoulders and forcibly turning her around to face the stove. "There'll be plenty of time to talk over dinner, V. Weren't you the one who said she could use a decent meal?"

"But I... oh, fine!" Volka huffed out, returning to her preparations with a furious vigor in a futile attempt to finish more quickly.

Rhonwen giggled at the display, only to look at Summer again and frown at the confused and somewhat sad expression she wore. "Hey, Asra," Rhonwen said as she realized something, drawing the feline Faunus's attention, "you and Summer are about the same size, right?"

"What?" Asra asked, blinking at her. It wasn't until she looked over at Summer again that she understood what Rhonwen meant. "Oh, you want me to loan her some of my clothes? Sure, I can do that."

"Great!" Rhonwen said cheerily, smiling over at the nearly overwhelmed survivor of Vault 4. "How's that sound, Summer? I need to look at your shoulder again anyway, so you might as well put something clean on before we eat."

"I... okay," Summer said, shifting uncomfortably as she rose to her feet. "I can... I can keep this, right? My jumpsuit?"

"Of course, Summer," Rhonwen said as Asra started guiding them through the house to her bedroom. "I still have mine in my house. I don't really wear it anymore – I like wearing these clothes a bit too much, I think – but I like to have it. It helps me sleep, sometimes, and I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Summer let out a small, shaky laugh at that, and she gave Rhonwen a small smile – the first she'd worn since the massacre in her Vault.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Dinner wound up being a somewhat bizarre affair. Asra and Rhonwen had wound up dressing Summer in a white tank top and black leggings, which were a bit loose in the chest and tight in the hips, respectively, and left her injured shoulder free for the Schnee to keep her eye on during dinner. Ferrer wound up reigning in Volka's curiosity a bit while they were eating, as Volka's questions tended to lead back to Vault 4, a place which no one else at the table wanted her thinking about. And, although Rhonwen encouraged her to eat a second plate of food to help her recover, Summer ate slowly, as if lacking an appetite, and didn't ask any questions, or even participate in conversations that she wasn't dragged into.

Much to Volka's dislike, Rhonwen bid the three founding members of the town farewell after dinner and took Summer home with her, hoping that a good night of sleep after a meal spent with friendly people would help her recover at least somewhat. However, much to Rhonwen's confusion, Asra decided to accompany them on their walk to Rhonwen's house.

Accompany might have been a strong word. After all, she was a good ten feet behind them.

"So, why did you decide to tag along?" Rhonwen asked, unable to keep quiet for long as she glanced back at the feline Faunus. "If anything, I'd have thought Volka would have."

Asra shrugged, her hands in the outer pockets of her coat. "I like to walk after I eat." The flimsy excuse had Rhonwen rolling her eyes, and Asra added, "What? The moon's out, so I'm going for a walk. It's not like I'm following you or anything."

"What's the deal with you and the moon, anyway?" Rhonwen asked, making Asra frown. "I've heard a whole bunch of rumors about you, but the moon thing is something I haven't been able to figure out. What, is it your Semblance or something?"

Neither Rhonwen nor Asra noticed the confused look that Summer had as she glanced between the two of them, though her mounting exhaustion caused her to just shake her head and make a note of it for later. She still payed as much attention to their conversation as she could muster, though, in an attempt to keep her mind off of the dark thoughts that always circled back to the Vault.

"Yes," Asra said, quickening her pace a little bit to catch up to them. "Moonlight makes me faster, stronger, recover more quickly, think more quickly – just makes me better at doing everything I can already do."

"Well, in that case," Rhonwen said, rolling her eyes again, "why are you walking with us, and not, say, a few streets over?"

Asra grimaced, looking up at the sky as the moonlight was hidden behind a thin cloud. Her thoughts clouded, as if suddenly thinking through molasses, but she had enough presence of mind to realize that she'd still be basking in moonlight if she was just a few blocks north. Or south, given the small size of the cloud. "Alright, you caught me," Asra half-mumbled, turning her gaze down to the ground as a light blush settled on her cheeks. It only grew once she realized she was blushing, thinking that Rhonwen would say something to embarrass her without realizing that Rhonwen, as a Human, wouldn't be able to see in the dark as well as Summer.

"Are you gonna answer my question?" Rhonwen asked, raising an eyebrow at the Faunus after a few moments of walking in silence.

"Oh! Uh, sorry," Asra said, chuckling more because of her embarrassment than despite it. "Well, it's, uh... I want to learn more about you two. I-I mean, you know, since we're all, uh..."

"Descendants of a group of legendary heroes?" Rhonwen finished for her, a smile etching itself onto her features. "Yeah, that's... something worth talking about, I guess. Shouldn't it wait until morning, though?"

"I, uh... I'm not exactly... awake, for most of the day. My Semblance makes me..." Asra trailed off, trying to find the words. Neither she nor Rhonwen noticed Summer's tired frown at the word "Semblance." "Well, better, I guess. As long as I'm in the moonlight, I'm stronger, faster, smarter, more alert, heal faster... you know, things like that. I tend to sleep whenever the moon's not up, so, uh, I'll probably be going to bed a couple hours before you get up. Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, making Rhonwen's eyebrow lift again. "We can have lunch together tomorrow. I'll buy."

"Well, how can I say no to a free meal?" Rhonwen asked, half-sarcastically, drawing a nervous giggle from Asra. "Sounds like fun."

"Great!" Asra said happily, smiling brightly at the two of them, even though Summer hadn't said a word for the whole conversation. "I'll see you two then!" She left them after that, walking off with a bounce in her step that made Rhonwen's eyes follow the sway of her hips for a long moment.

"Oh, that's my house right there," Rhonwen said once she'd turned her attention back to the road, pointing at a two-story townhouse on the upcoming block. With wooden walls and only two windows visible, it wasn't much to look at, but much like the rest of the recently built homes in Yang's Rest, it had been built for function rather than style; though unpainted, the wooden walls and roof were covered in a weather-proofing resin that would prevent water damage and help insulate the building, keeping its temperature more constant throughout the passing seasons. "It's cozier on the inside, I promise."

Summer's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't quite smile, something Rhonwen noticed as she looked back at the Faunus. Of course, Rhonwen was more focused on how tired Summer seemed to be, with her shoulders slumped and her tail hanging limply behind her.

"Let's get you in bed, shall we?" Rhonwen asked as she pulled a key ring out from an inner pocket in her coat, her own lips forming a smile that Summer couldn't quite comprehend in her tired state.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

 _Blood seeped from the steel walls as Summer ran between them, her panting gaining a frantic, almost terrified tone as she made another turn. Decaying corpses shambled along after her, somehow managing to keep up with her frenzied pace no matter how slowly they seemed to move; every time she looked behind herself, Summer's eyes widened again, but not at them having come yet another foot closer._

 _Each and every one of the things following her wore a blue jumpsuit, marked at the left breast with a yellow 4._

 _"Come back to us," Summer heard behind her, and her head turned jerkily to look at the one that had spoken, her breath catching in her throat even as she kept running. "Come back to me, Summer," Myst said, blood oozing from the bullet-sized hole in his forehead._

 _Summer gaped at him for a moment that stretched into eternity, but turned her head and kept running, trying to ignore his increasingly insistent pleas and demands._

 _Eventually, Summer was forced to a stop as the hallway came to an abrupt end. A hole stretched before her, a yawning chasm that seemed to tug at her, begging her to fall into its depths and be swallowed whole by the darkness within it. She took a step back from it, only to suddenly remember the horde of dead that had been chasing her and whirl on her feet._

 _Her eyes widened again at what she saw. The animated corpses that had been chasing her were gone, save for one. Myst stood alone in the hall, staring at her until he started walking – but not towards her._

 _When he stepped through a door with the name "Layla" engraved on a plate above it, Summer followed him without thinking._

 _Within the room, she saw her cousin once more, bound hand and foot as she had been the last time they'd met. Myst stood above her, his head tilted at an odd angle as he stared unblinkingly at Summer. It wasn't until he turned his gaze back to Layla that Summer dared break eye contact, and when she did she gasped at what she saw._

 _Blood welled from Layla's neck as she gasped for breath, her panting wet and frantic. She weakly reached for Summer, her hand suddenly free of the restraints binding it, only for it to fall limp before Summer could reach her._

 _"You did this," Myst said simply. His tone wasn't accusing; it was nearly apologetic._

 _Before Summer could blink, the scene changed. The steel walls were nearly identical, but a bookshelf of preserved wood and a centrally placed computer terminal had replaced the furnishings of her cousin's bedroom. On the terminal's screen was a single image, of a vaguely humanoid robot with an X etched over its form._

 _"You could have saved us all," Myst said; again, his tone was almost apologetic, which only served to further horrify Summer. "But you failed to save anyone."_

 _It wasn't until she felt their hands on her shoulders that Summer realized the dead hadn't stopped following her. Her eyes widened once more, and she let loose a scream as they tore at her with their teeth and exposed finger bones. She kept screaming, even as they dragged her from Layla's side and pulled her down into the ground with them._

When Summer woke, she was screaming, and for a moment the sound tricked her into thinking that she was still in her nightmare. When she realized where she was, the dream already fading from her memory, she started shaking, both from remembered fear and from the realization that Myst – the Myst in her dream – had been right.

When Rhonwen, having been woken by Summer's scream, opened her door to check on her, she found Summer sitting on the edge of her bed, her knees curled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. "Summer?" Rhonwen asked, seating herself next to the lupine Faunus. "What's wrong?"

"I... I..." Summer couldn't bring herself to say the words, and instead pressed her head into her legs and started to cry.

"Hey, hey," Rhonwen said soothingly, wrapping an arm around Summer's shoulders and pulling her into a gentle hug. "You can talk to me, Summer. Just tell me what's wrong. Please?"

Summer shook her head, sniffling, and then giggled, suddenly struck by the fact that a woman a year younger than her (as she had learned during one of the many conversations that had taken place during dinner at the founders') was acting the way she thought an older sister would have. "I... it was a nightmare," Summer managed to say, not noticing how worried her bout of giggling had made Rhonwen. "I was... I was back there, but... I could have saved them."

"Summer," Rhonwen began, only to be cut off by Summer shaking her head stiffly.

"I could've... if I hadn't been... I should've gone straight for the Overseer's office," Summer mumbled, shutting her eyes tightly as she buried her face in her thighs again. "If I hadn't tried to save her first, she wouldn't have... Layla would be..."

Rhonwen didn't say anything; she couldn't. She didn't know for sure what had happened in Vault 4, or even who Layla was. So, she just held Summer more tightly, trying to reassure her through her simple presence.

"I could've saved her," Summer kept mumbling, her sobs shaking her whole body. "I could've saved her."

"Summer, stop," Rhonwen said, wincing at how stern she sounded. "You shouldn't... there's no point on dwelling on what you could have done differently."

Summer froze, then turned to look at the white-haired woman. Her face was nearly devoid of emotion, save for the tears still rolling down her cheeks and the mucus dripping from her nose. "What?" she asked, her voice so small and weak that Rhonwen nearly couldn't bring herself to speak.

"You know what you should have done now, right?" Rhonwen asked, drawing a small nod from the distraught Faunus. "But you didn't then, right?"

"I..." Summer began, only to shake her head again. "I don't..."

"Then you did the best you could with what you knew at the time, right?" Rhonwen asked, swallowing at the lump in her throat when she saw Summer's eyes shut tightly. "That's what we all do. Just... We just have to do what we can with what we have, and hope for the best. And sometimes it doesn't... work out," Rhonwen finished lamely, realizing how much of an understatement that was right before she said it.

Summer just shook her head again, still crying into the pajama bottoms Asra had let her borrow. Rhonwen stared at her for a moment longer, then let out a quiet sigh as she realized something she could do to help take her mind off of everything.

"I... you know I'm from a Vault, too, right?" Rhonwen began. Summer didn't appear to react, but Rhonwen continued after a moment anyway. "Vault 22. It was... it was a pretty decent place to live." Rhonwen giggled, somewhat awkwardly, as she admitted, "I didn't really have many people I could call friends. I was... I was either too busy studying medicine, or too busy having sex with people."

 _That_ drew Summer's attention, almost startling her with the abruptness Rhonwen had said it. "What?" Summer asked, staring at her wide-eyed.

Rhonwen's cheeks warmed at the attention, but she admitted to herself that it was better than letting her cry. "Yeah. I, uh... I might have a problem. Don't worry, I'm in control of it," she quickly reassured Summer, who had paled considerably. "I only sleep with people who actually want me to. But, I... well, I might be a bit of a nymphomaniac. I have a hard time thinking straight if I go more than a few days without... a little something. Preferably a few little somethings. And I try to, uh, take care of it myself, but–"

"R-Rhonwen!" Summer stammered out, making the younger woman giggle from embarrassment. "Y-you don't have to... have to tell me that!"

"Yeah, I kinda got a bit off topic, didn't I?" Rhonwen asked, scratching at one of her reddening cheeks. "So, uh, yeah, I didn't have many friends in my Vault. Well, not _real_ friends, anyway: I had people who I was... who I was _with_ , more often than others, but, uh, didn't really like to talk to. Really, other than my dad and my master – like, 'master and apprentice', not anything else – I really only had two people I talked to."

"Who were they?" Summer asked, eager to move on to a topic that wasn't so inherently sexual. Rhonwen noticed how much more attentive Summer seemed, how much more vocal she was being compared to earlier, and smiled at her, both in appreciation of what she saw as an improvement and at the memories her question dredged up.

"Lyon Creed and Lilac Shah. Lyon's being groomed by our resident radio host to take her spot in a few years, since he has a great voice for it," Rhonwen began. "She's been teaching him to compose his own music, and they – oh! I might actually have a couple of their duets on my PIP-Boy, come to think of it," she said, grinning at Summer. "Want to hear one? Or something else? I've got a pretty big selection: I've even got a bunch of songs by Weiss Schnee on here, if you're interested."

"Can you... Can you tell me more about Lyon, and Lilac, too, please?" Summer asked, making Rhonwen blush and chuckle sheepishly.

"Right, sorry. Uh... Lyon's a Faunus, like you, though he's got a big mane on his neck instead of something more common. It made him hate taking showers when he was young 'cause it would always get soaking wet and stay that way for a long time." Rhonwen paused when she saw Summer smile and glance over at her tail, only to continue again at the older woman's nod. "And Lilac... she's as much of a nerd about pen-and-paper RPGs as I am about music," she admitted with a blush. "I swear, the number of times we all stayed up late playing through one of the campaigns she designed... If only there was room for people to write books in our Vault, she wouldn't be stuck in Maintenance."

"What's wrong with Maintenance?" Summer asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Other than washing floors and cleaning toilets?" Rhonwen asked, feeling her eyebrow lift when she saw Summer's head cock to one side. "Why? What did the Maintenance crews do in your Vault?"

"We kept the oxygen recyclers working and the lights on," Summer said, making Rhonwen blink at her. "Who did that stuff in your Vault?"

"The Engineering team," Rhonwen said, slowly realizing where the conversation was going. "Did you call your version of my Vault's Maintenance crew something different?"

"We... we had robots for that," Summer said, her shoulders slumping as darkness took root in her thoughts again.

"Hey," Rhonwen said, draping her arm over Summer's shoulders to force her to focus on her. "I... I can't even pretend to know what you're going through right now," Rhonwen admitted as tears started to roll down Summer's cheeks again. "Just... try to focus on the people you have now, okay? We're here for you, Summer. For as long as you need us."

Summer clenched her eyes tightly shut and leaned over, resting her head on Rhonwen's shoulder as she cried. "I..." Summer croaked out. "I don't want to... to be alone again. Like I was before... Like I was before you and Volka found me."

"You won't be, Summer," Rhonwen said, lightly petting the older girl's hair as she held her more tightly to herself. "Would it... would you mind terribly much if I slept in here with you tonight?" she asked suddenly, making Summer stiffen in her grasp. "I know what we talked about earlier, but I'm not going to try anything while you're asleep, Summer," Rhonwen added, rolling her eyes. "I have a rule about not starting anything like that with my patients unless I've already been with them before."

"O-okay," Summer said, relaxing in Rhonwen's hold again.

It didn't take long for her to fall back asleep. Rhonwen couldn't help but smile at the sight, despite the puffy red skin beneath Summer's eyes and the mucus still dripping from her nose. She got Summer settled with her head against a pillow, then left for a brief moment to grab a washcloth from the bathroom.

When she got back, Summer was shifting in her sleep, letting out frightened, wordless murmurs. Once Rhonwen sat down beside her, she stilled, making Rhonwen's smile turn sad as she began cleaning the Faunus's cheeks and nose. Once she'd finished, she put the washcloth to one side, checked to make sure Summer hadn't reopened the wound on her shoulder at any point during the night, then settled herself down next to Summer on the bed.

Summer let out another murmur, this one seeming more like mild discontent, and rolled onto her side, freeing up a bit of the pillow for Rhonwen. For her part, the younger woman just smiled once more and shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around Summer's midsection as she placed her head on the pillow.

Before long, she had joined her patient in the land of dreams.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You're going to _love_ the diner," Rhonwen said enthusiastically as she and Summer walked along the worked stone streets of Yang's Rest. They were headed to the sole restaurant in the town, a diner that had been mostly intact when Ferrer and the others had decided to turn the ruins into something that people could live in again, where they'd agreed to have breakfast with Volka and Ferrer.

"Why's that?" Summer asked, giving a subdued smile to the white-haired woman. She had been nearly happy when she'd woken up, and had just lounged in her bed for quite some time before Rhonwen woke up as well... and swiftly subjected Summer to a series of medical examinations that had left her feeling somewhat violated. Rhonwen had been gentle and respectful the entire time, and had patiently explained everything she'd done beforehand in ways that Summer understood, but the combination of all of them at once had almost led to her enjoying her shower, despite how much she hated having a wet tail. She'd even had Summer strip completely naked to make sure she didn't have any injuries she hadn't thought to check for, though the critical way Rhonwen looked her over made Summer question how much of what Rhonwen had told her the night before was true.

"Well, the food, for one thing," Rhonwen said, giving her a wide grin. "Last night was your first time having meat, but it was just poultry. Wait until you've had something like pork or venison!" From the confused look Summer had, Rhonwen decided to say, "Pork is pig meat – mostly wild boars, around here – and venison is deer meat. Though I think I heard someone say that the deer around here might actually be elk, so it might not be venison."

"Okay?"

"Plus, there's also all the various herbs and spices that get grown around here, too. And milk, and eggs, and – ooh, I'll bet you've never had chocolate before, have you?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer shake her head. "Well, there's a lot of things with chocolate in them at the diner, and they're all delicious," Rhonwen said, somewhat lamely in Summer's opinion. "I don't know if they serve it this early in the day, though. It's more of a dessert thing."

"Okay," Summer said again.

"Oh, there it is now," Rhonwen said, pointing out the rather simple building. Despite being only a single story of wood, metal, and glass, it was more than broad enough to hold nearly half the town comfortably, even from what little of it Summer could see through the broad windows. Within were a great deal of wooden tables and chairs, as well as a dozen wide booths set up against the walls and cushioned with leather and fur. Almost ruining the nearly pristine look, however, was the crude sign nailed just above the broad glass doors; it appeared to be made from driftwood, and the words "Sunset Diner" had been poorly painted on it in red letters.

What made Summer feel a bit hesitant was the sheer number of people within it. Dozens of people were seated, either at a table or at the broad, glass-and-stone counter along one edge of the diner, and many of them were talking loudly enough that Summer could almost make out what they were saying from outside.

"Hey," Rhonwen said, smiling at Summer encouragingly once she'd gotten her attention back on her. "You've got a thing with crowds?"

"I... I've never really thought about it," Summer admitted timidly. "Maybe a little?"

"It's okay if you do. We're not here for all of them, anyway," Rhonwen said, pointing at booth the where she saw a certain blonde was sitting. "Just for them."

"O-okay," Summer said, swallowing. Somehow, she felt even more nervous now that she realized she could see her; nevertheless, she followed Rhonwen into the diner and to the booth her cousin was sitting at.

"Summer!" Volka exclaimed excitedly once she saw the Faunus, rising a few inches out of her seat before seeming to force herself back down. "How are you? Did you sleep well? Rhonwen didn't do anything suspicious to you, did she?"

As Summer cowed beneath the sudden litany of questions, Rhonwen glowered at Volka and said, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I, uh, I mean... I've heard a few rumors from Ferrer?" Volka said, her questioning tone meshing poorly with her embarrassed grin as she glanced at her roommate, who was sitting next to her. It was enough to make Rhonwen turn her ire on him, which made Volka sigh in relief.

"She asked if I'd heard any 'juicy gossip', I believe was her phrasing," Ferrer said with a shrug. "The Doc told me a few things about you the day before, so I told her."

"What things?" Rhonwen asked, forcing herself to calm down at least a little as she and Summer slid into the booth next to them.

"Storm, Felix, and Shula, to name a few," Ferrer said, pointedly ignoring the way Volka's smile disappeared at the first name. "Should I go on?"

"Yes: tell me how me having some fun makes you think I'd do something like that to Summer after what she's been through?" Rhonwen asked indignantly, changing the target of her accusation less than halfway through it.

Volka just sighed and shook her head, which confused Rhonwen enough to take some of the heat out of her. "Sorry, it's just... Storm and I used to be..." she trailed off with another sigh and shake of her head.

Rhonwen grimaced, then sighed as well. "Thank you. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry, too," she said, making Volka blink at her. "I can get a bit defensive when it comes to people thinking... well, thinking like _that_ about me. And I totally understand being jealous or envious if you used to be with someone I spent a night with; believe me, you're not the first I've accidentally put through that," she admitted, her cheeks coloring.

Volka laughed awkwardly, smiling at her as she shook her head again. "Thanks, Rhonwen," Volka said.

Before Volka could even look at Summer again, a waitress appeared next to their booth abruptly enough to startle them. "Hi there," she said, giving Summer a small smile before she turned it on everyone else in turn. "Sorry for the wait. We're a bit busier than we usually are this time of day." As she spoke, Summer couldn't help but stare at her: from the fiery red hair just barely long enough to frame her heart-shaped face, with three locks of its original blonde dangling in between her soft green eyes, to the way the white apron she wore over her sand-colored T-shirt and slacks emphasized the swell of her breasts and hips, she looked positively enthralling to the young Faunus. "I'm guessing these are the friends you've been waiting for, Ferrer, V?" she asked, turning her smile on Summer and Rhonwen once more. "I remember you, Rhonwen, but who's the newcomer?"

"She's Summer... Dream, right?" Volka asked, drawing a quick, timid nod from her. "It's kind of a long story that's... not really that fun to tell, but we're kind of distantly related cousins, so... yeah. Anyway, Summer," Volka continued, "this is Aina Jay. Believe it or not, she actually owns the whole diner; she just likes to talk to the customers so much that she pulls double duty as a waitress."

"Oh, stop. You know I learn more when I talk to people directly," Aina said, confusing Summer for a moment. "Sorry to cut things short, but I do have some work to get back to. Are you ready to order, or should I give you some more time?"

"Three-stack of hotcakes for each of us," Ferrer said. "Hash browns and sausages as the sides. As for drinks, I'll have peppermint tea, extra sweet."

"Just water for me," Volka said.

"Strawberry lemonade for me and Summer," Rhonwen said, drawing a brief nod from Aina.

"Alrighty then! I'll be back in a minute or two with your drinks!" the waitress/owner said before she left them.

"Strawberry lemonade?" Summer asked, frowning at Rhonwen.

"Lemonade flavored with strawberry juice," Rhonwen explained. "Lemonade is lemon juice mixed with water and sugar. I promise, you'll like it."

"You ordered for them?" Volka asked Ferrer, raising an eyebrow as she tried to keep a smile off of her face.

"Quicker that way," Ferrer said, shrugging a shoulder. "Sorry if it was a bit presumptuous, Rhonwen," he added, catching the white-haired woman's attention. "You're fine with hotcakes and the like, right?"

"Sure, they're fine. But, since you ordered for me, is breakfast on you, too?" Rhonwen asked sweetly, smiling innocently at him.

Ferrer let out a chuckle and rolled his eyes. "Might as well. You are taking care of Summer outside your normal work hours, after all; easy way to pay you for it."

"Thanks, boss!" Rhonwen said, her smile somehow turning even more sweet and innocent.

"So, uh..." Volka said, turning to look at Summer after watching the interaction between the town's mayor and its newest doctor. "Uh... So, Summer, I... Can you tell me a bit about yourself?" she finished lamely, unable to actually come up with something to lead the conversation with. "O-or I could tell you about me, if... if you want."

Summer paled at that, feeling the onus of the already awkward discussion settling squarely on her. "I... uh..." she began, drawing a mostly anxiety-fueled smile from Volka. "I don't know where I'd begin," Summer admitted after a moment, looking down dejectedly.

"You could talk about how much you know your ancestors?" Rhonwen offered, smiling at the relieved look she drew from Volka. "That way we're not just watching you two trade off awkward bouts of stammering," she added, her smile morphing into a grin as the blonde's relief turned into a slighted scowl.

"Well, uh," Summer said, giving Rhonwen a small, nervous smile as she spoke, "I-I know a little bit about Ruby and Yang. They were half-sisters, so we're... we're even more distantly related than we would be," she added, tittering nervously.

"Yeah, I think I remember hearing something about that," Volka said. "But I think Ruby borrowed Yang's husband when she wanted kids, so it's even more complicated than you'd think."

"What?" Summer asked, blinking at Volka. Lifting her arm, she tapped her PIP-Boy to life and started scrolling through the list of read messages. "I don't remember reading anything about that," she mumbled, staring at the device as she opened the oldest message on it.

"Uh, Summer?" Rhonwen asked, making the Faunus look at her. "Don't you think it's a bit rude to be on your PIP-Boy while... well, while we're doing this?"

Summer blinked at her, then let out a squeak of sound and dropped her arm back to her side, staring fearfully at the table. "I'm sorry! I just... I thought..."

"You have something on there that's relevant to this?" Volka asked, sounding more curious than offended.

"I... y-yeah," Summer said, nervously looking at her through the curtain that her bangs made in front of her eyes. "My PIP-Boy used to belong to Ruby's daughter, Summer, a-and, um, it-it's kinda been passed down through my fam-... through my family," she finished, shutting her eyes tightly as she shoved the emotions to one side. It was something she'd taught herself how to do long ago, with the aid of her first therapist, who'd acknowledged that it was a terrible thing to do even as she'd taught her. "S-so, uh... I've gone through some of the older messages," she continued, her cheeks coloring. "They... Summer was only like eight when she got her first PIP-Boy, and she ported almost everything onto here."

"Huh," Volka said, staring at the PIP-Boy in question. "That's one of the SPECIAL models, though, right? Or an offshoot?"

"Huh?" Summer asked, lifting her head back up.

"Most PIP-Boys were tagged with stuff like B-02890," Volka explained – well, "explained" – to her cousin. "The SPECIAL models were made based on certain people. Example: my PIP-Boy, tagged P-089, is a Nikos model, after Pyrrha Nikos," she continued, lifting her own arm to show off her PIP-Boy. Made from polished bronze rather than the steel of most PIP-Boys and with its leather dyed red, it truly looked a bit special, in Summer's eyes. "Apparently, they were made to do something with Semblance, but I've got a hard time remembering that," she admitted, feeling her cheeks heat.

"They're supposed to give you access to the person's their modeled off of," Ferrer interjected, his back straight so he could examine the room more thoroughly for Aina; it had already been several minutes since she'd left.

"Um... Semblance?" Summer asked, her confusion growing into timid fear as Rhonwen frowned and Volka raised an eyebrow at her. "What... what's that?"

"You know, Semblance?" Rhonwen asked, glancing over at Volka before she turned her gaze back to the Faunus. "It's different for everyone, but anyone with an Aura has one. Although, it's not always obvious what it is or how to use it effectively."

"Okay, so, uh... Aura?" Summer asked, shrinking further into her seat as the stares she was receiving grew more intense.

"You don't... oh, gods," Rhonwen mumbled, swallowing at the lump that formed in her throat. "That... that makes some sense," she continued to mumble to herself, shaking her head slowly. "They couldn't... thousands of people, who couldn't..."

"Fuck," Volka hissed, clenching her hands tightly into fists as she realized exactly what Rhonwen had.

"What's... what's wrong?" Summer asked, glancing fearfully between the two women.

"Aura is... something that everyone with a soul can use," Ferrer said, frowning sadly at her; he'd come to the same conclusion as Rhonwen and Volka. "It's like armor, shielding its user from tremendous harm, but it also enables feats of strength beyond the limits of what our Human or Faunus bodies are technically capable of."

Summer blinked at him, her back straightening as she stared into his eyes. "You're... you're lying," she said, much too calmly for anyone at the table to not worry about her. "That can't be the truth."

Instead of answering her, Ferrer picked up one of the butter knives on the table, offered it to her, and laid his other hand down flat between them. "If I'm lying, then I deserve this," he said seriously, never breaking eye contact. "If I'm telling the truth, you'll know for sure."

Summer hesitantly took the knife from him, glancing at Rhonwen, who winced but nodded, and then at Volka, who was scowling at Ferrer. "Are you sure?" she asked, receiving a nod as her only answer from the steel-haired mayor. "I... Okay."

With that said, she clumsily flipped the knife around in her hand so that its blade was pointed down at the table and brought it down on Ferrer's hand with as much strength as she could muster.

So, when a flash of grey light came from his hand at the point of impact and she found her hand bounce back as if repelled by a layer of something rubbery, Summer let out a squeak and stared wide-eyed at Ferrer's hand. She was shaking badly, enough so that the knife slid from her grasp and clattered onto the table.

"That is Aura," Ferrer said softly, never taking his eyes from Summer's. "I don't know what your Vault was like, but... from what little I know from Asra, I know that they weren't just ways to preserve the future of our species: they were social experiments, attempts to determine the cause of the war and find a way to prevent it in the future. If I'm right, then yours was meant to see if lack of such a defensive ability would result in people growing to despise violence to some extent."

On some level, Summer began processing what he was saying, but her conscious mind was too busy running scenarios, something that had made her intensely valuable to the Maintenance crew of her Vault. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she blinked rapidly, her frown one born of intense focus as she worked through multiple paths to the same conclusion, one she would have come to sooner if she hadn't been in such a sorry state; realizing that her Vault, her Layla, could have survived easily if they'd had the ability to manifest an Aura catalyzed her thoughts into flowing smoothly once more.

"The robots didn't malfunction," Summer said softly, staring down at the table again. "It was deliberate."

"Summer?" Rhonwen asked, frowning worriedly at her.

"Someone intentionally modified their programming," Summer continued to mumble, her eyes narrowing. "Someone... someone murdered them." When Summer looked up abruptly, Rhonwen jumped, and Volka and Ferrer stared at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, respectively. "Like I'm going to do to them."

"S-Summer?" Rhonwen repeated, stammering.

"That... might not be the best idea," Volka began, drawing a hard look from her cousin. Seeing the only recently timid woman like this left her speechless for a moment, but then she continued, saying, "You don't even know how to use your Aura yet, and that pistol you have isn't going to be of much use against someone who does."

"Plus, there's also issues that you've probably never thought about, like food and water," Ferrer added, almost nonchalantly, as he looked around for Aina again. Unlike Volka, he was actually somewhat relieved that Summer had apparently taken his demonstration so well, in his opinion. "As well as radiation. And how bad weather can make you sick if you get stuck out in it. And–"

"Okay, that's enough," Rhonwen cut in, tossing him a pleading glance before meeting Summer's eyes. "What makes you think that it was deliberate?" she asked, instead of immediately assuming that Summer's idea was even correct to begin with, like Volka and Ferrer had.

"Those robots worked correctly for two hundred years," Summer said. "Part of my learning programming languages was looking at their code and figuring out what it did, just like everyone else in Maintenance did. It'd be possible for _one_ robot to malfunction like that if there was some sort of mechanical error that prevented it from recognizing Vault jumpsuits, but that would only effect _that_ robot, not all of them. For all of them to start acting like that, someone would need to go into their code and remove those lines."

"But _why_ would someone do that?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer frown. "What possible reason could anyone have to do that?"

"At a guess?" Ferrer asked, making Rhonwen direct a harsh glare his way. "It's possible someone found out Ruby's descendants were living in the Vault and wanted to prevent them from potentially becoming an issue. Of course, that would mean things are going to start getting... weird," he finished, frowning pensively down at the table.

"Why would someone want to do that?" Rhonwen asked again, exasperated.

"To negate the threat silver eyed warriors pose to those who can control the Grimm or who have magic, most likely," Ferrer said, as if it was obvious.

"I... you... what?" Rhonwen asked, her eyes going wide as she stared at him. "Magic?"

"For what we're discussing, it's just a theory," Ferrer said, looking around for Aina again, only to seem to perk up when he saw her. "Ah, finally."

"Sorry it took me so long with your drinks!" the waitress-slash-owner said as she started setting ceramic cups down in front of them. "Your food should be coming out in a few minutes, too," she added once she'd finished, shifting her grip on the plastic tray she held so it was pressed up against her chest. "Oh, and Ferrer?"

"Yes, Aina?"

"If you're going to tell them about magic, you should at least tell them about everything else, too," she scolded him, meeting his eyes. "Yes, you probably should have thought about talking about this stuff with a telepath nearby, but you didn't."

"Telepath?" Summer asked.

"My Semblance lets me read minds," Aina said brightly as she turned her focus onto Summer. "And before you go out on any revenge-based snipe hunts, Summer, you should probably think about getting some clothes of your own. I don't think Asra would be very happy to learn that you took off without returning hers, and it sort of makes you lack credibility if you don't even own your own clothes."

"O-okay," Summer stammered out, blinking repeatedly as Aina made her realize just how unprepared she was. "I... I'll do that."

"Great!" Aina said happily, giving Summer a bright smile before she turned and walked away.

"Well, uh," Volka began, "you know, Summer, if you want, I can take you shopping after this. I know a good tailor."

"No, hold on a minute," Rhonwen interrupted before Summer could speak. "What did she mean by everything?"

Ferrer sighed, took a sip of his tea, and said, "Magic is real, for starters. Silver eyes are just part of it," he gestured to Summer, who frowned and shrank in her seat a little at the attention. "I don't know all that much, though. I still have questions of my own that I'd like to find answers to, but I'll tell you what I do know.

"A long time ago," he began, "centuries, if not millennia, before the First Great War, a woman was born with a heart full of hatred, of destruction, and a god who embodied those qualities granted her the power to make and control the creatures of Grimm. She wrought havoc wherever she went, until a wizard managed to seal off her direct influence to a certain region of the world, locking her onto a single continent. But she found ways around this: she gathered Human and Faunus minions to accomplish her objectives for her, and she made Grimm designed to be messengers in order to communicate with them.

"For centuries, she worked behind the scenes, until one day she decided it was time to act. She sent one of her followers to infiltrate some sporting event in Vale, and managed to collapse it completely, but nearly lost her follower in the process, thanks to a young Ruby Rose." Ferrer paused to sip at his tea again, then added, "You two likely know better than me what happened after that."

"The fall of the White Fang, the reassessment of Atlas as a kingdom, the destruction of southern Sanus, and the Growth period after a significant drop in the Grimm population," Rhonwen listed off, treated to an unwelcome flashback of some of her early schooling. "But you're telling us magic was involved in all of this?"

"Is magic really so out there, Rhonwen? You know how Aura and Semblance and Dust work, right?" Volka asked, only to blink and then turn to Summer. "You know how Dust works, right?" she asked her distant cousin.

"Yes," Summer said with a slight nod of her head. "It's where all of my Vault's power, heat, and clean water came from."

"Wait, how? Dust takes Aura to work," Volka said, frowning at her.

Summer shrugged, saying, "It just worked. A couple of the machines we used broke down and needed repairs, but they worked again once we fixed them."

"Certain devices can draw on Aura to activate Dust without the user being aware of it," Ferrer explained once he'd taken another sip of his tea.

"How do we keep getting off topic when we're talking about freaking _magic_?" Rhonwen grumbled, folding her arms on the table and leaning down to rest her forehead on them. "What can it do?" she asked after a moment, giving Ferrer an annoyed look.

"As far as I know, anything," Ferrer said, shrugging a shoulder. "It can replicate the effects of Dust, for sure; I learned that much from my time with the Brotherhood."

"The Brotherhood?" Summer asked, making Rhonwen sigh. "Sorry, but... I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed," she admitted, frowning apologetically at the white-haired woman.

"I'll explain everything – in due time," Ferrer said, glancing over at Aina's returning figure. "But for now, I think it'd be best if we started eating before our breakfast gets cold."

Summer frowned at him, suspecting he was withholding information in an attempt to keep her from leaving as soon as she could, but wasn't willing to voice her thoughts with Aina around.

"That's probably the case, Summer," Aina said, making Summer blush; she'd already forgotten the diner's owner was telepathic.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Welcome!" exclaimed the almost absurdly muscular man as Summer and Volka stepped into his store. Mummy's Wrappings, one of the few functional clothing stores in the whole world at this point, was one of the things that Volka had boasted of when describing Yang's Rest. Though it had been established in what used to be a single-story home, the tailor's store had a professional feel to it that Summer couldn't quite place; after all, she'd never been in a clothing store before, much like most of the world. Though she assumed that most Pre-War clothing stores had more on display than a handful of unisex outfits worn by slapped together mannequins, and that they hadn't had an area with a single footstool surrounded by thin white cloth. It reminded her of a spiderweb.

"Morning, Tailor!" Volka replied cheerily, grinning back at him. "Tailor, this is Summer Dream, my cousin. Well, kinda distant cousin, but still. Anyway, Summer, this is Taylor Jay, but most people around town call him Tailor," she added, her grin growing only wider at the utterly confused look on Summer's face.

"What?" she asked, glancing at Volka before looking back at Tailor. He was tall and tan, and his muscles were so large that his pale pink T-shirt looked oddly misshapen and stretched, as did his black trousers. Despite that, when he walked over to one of the mannequins on display, his clothes didn't tear or seem to restrict his movements in any way. His shoulder-length hair was light blue, a sharp contrast to his bright orange eyes.

"And that's why I tell people to introduce me like that," Tailor said, grinning at Volka. "Now, it's been a while since you've been in here, V. Do you want something other than those bells on your legs?" he asked, making the blonde shake her head.

"Nah. We're here for Summer," Volka said, patting the Faunus's shoulder affectionately. "She's borrowing some of Asra's clothes right now. Could use some of her own."

"Aha," Tailor said, looking over Summer with a critical eye that made her shrink back towards Volka. "How are they on you? Bit tight in the waist, loose in the chest?" Tailor half-asked, half-observed, making Summer blush and pale simultaneously.

"I, uh, I guess," she said timidly, glancing back at Volka, who merely gave her a comforting smile before leading her toward the footstool she'd noticed earlier. "Wh-what's going on?" Summer asked fearfully, looking between the two of them and the web-like cloth.

"I'm making rice," Tailor said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Oddly, Summer found the sense of confusion it gave her somewhat comforting, as if it pushed aside some of her fears. "The white background helps me determine what's a good look for people, and the stool's so I can get a decent look from a different angle," he explained, collecting a selection of differently colored lengths of cloth wrapped around three-feet-tall wooden spools. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to take off all your clothes, we can get started," he said, making Summer pale again.

"Wh-what?!" she exclaimed, looking at Volka fearfully again, only to receive yet another comforting smile from her.

"His Semblance lets him manipulate cloth," Volka explained, not helping Summer in the slightest. "You won't be naked for long, Summer. I promise."

"If it helps, if you don't want any underwear, you don't need to take that off," Tailor said, shrugging a shoulder as he set down yet another massive spool of cloth.

"I... I don't know if I..." Summer stammered, only for Volka to sigh and shake her head.

"You remember how Aina, from the diner, can read people's minds?" Volka asked, drawing a nod from Summer. "Well, she's his wife," Volka said, drawing a broad grin from Tailor. "He won't do anything you're not comfortable with, I promise. Otherwise, his wife will find out and cut off his balls." At that, Tailor winced and gave Volka an odd look.

"You know I respect the sanctity of marriage, right?" he asked, making Volka wince. "Anyway, Summer," he said, grimacing as he looked away from Volka, "any preference for what clothes or style you want? Coloration, designs, any of that?"

"U-uh," Summer said, looking between the two of them yet again. "I... I've kinda wondered what a skirt would be like," she admitted timidly, feeling her cheeks heat again. Maybe something dark?" she added, shrugging a shoulder.

"Hmm," Tailor grunted, looking her over again before he nodded. "Okay, I've got an idea. Now, strip."

Summer did, though only after another turning her back to him. Her borrowed tank top and slacks came off easily, as did her boots, revealing her tan bra and panties, as well as considerably more pale skin than she was comfortable with.

"You'll need to turn around for me to see what I'm doing," Tailor said, somewhat gently.

Summer closed her eyes, chewed on her lip for a moment, and then sighed before following his instructions. She kept her eyes closed, not quite willing to look at the man who could see her while she was nearly naked, nor at the cousin she'd only met the day before.

So, when she felt something tickling across her body at a rapid pace and something cold and hard press against her skin in a number of places only a few moments later, Summer let out a surprised, fearful squeak and her eyes flew open. Just a second too late, though; Tailor had already finished.

When Summer looked down at herself, she didn't see pale skin and tan underwear. Instead, she saw a sweater made from red cotton hanging modestly from her shoulders, baring only a couple of inches of skin around her neck and adorned with a pair of cross-stitched white crosses. Below, she saw a black pleated skirt with similar cross-shaped patterns adorning it, as well as a pair of light grey tights that she hadn't been wearing before. He'd even touched up her boots, exchanging the time-worn laces for new ones and thoroughly repairing the sloppy patch in the side of the left one.

Summer swallowed as she stared down at the new clothes, her eyes wide. "Well, I think you've impressed her," Volka said, attempting to suppress a chuckle with a grin when Summer let out another timid squeak and blushed brightly at the reminder that Volka was in the room. "How much'll this run me?"

"Call it thirty caps," Tailor said, making Volka nod her head and reach for her belt, only to pause at the last second.

"Wait, something's... missing?" Volka asked, frowning as she stared at Summer and slowly cocked her head sideways. "I think?"

"What?" Tailor asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know, I just..." Volka mumbled, trailing off. After a moment of frowning at her Faunus cousin, she seemed to reach a realization, her cheeks coloring and her eyes widening as she lifted her arm and started tapping away at her PIP-Boy. "Oh, I think I've got it," Volka muttered, embarrassed as she scrolled to one of the older images on her PIP-Boy. "You look a bit too much like your ancestor for my brain to handle, Summer." With that said, Volka twisted her arm to show the image to Summer.

It was a picture of a park, taken in the middle of a rather sunny day. In it, two women and three children stood staring at the camera that had taken the picture. The first woman bore a positively radiant smile that showed even in her deep purple eyes, and was only accentuated by the waist-length shower of blonde hair trailing from her head. She was amply endowed, Summer easily noted, though the yellow dress she wore made less of her assets – as did her metallic right arm. At her side was a woman Summer recognized instantly, from the various pictures she'd seen of her growing up: Ruby Rose. From the shoulder-length black hair accented with red along the right side to the silver hue of her eyes, she was quite the pretty woman, even dressed in a featureless black T-shirt and slacks as she was.

Before the two half-sisters were three young girls, one of whom was a practically a younger version of Ruby. Summer Rose, Summer recalled, was wearing a dress, much like her aunt, though hers was pink rather than yellow. She was also the only person in the picture who wasn't smiling, instead staring distrustfully at the camera as if she thought it would steal her soul, which was a rather odd look for someone less than ten years old. Next to her were her cousins, who Summer couldn't recall the names of: from their short-for-a-girl, long-for-a-boy long hair to the grey shirts and shorts they were wearing, the two were pretty much identical. The only difference between Yang's twin children was a pink ribbon tied into her daughter's hair (at least, Summer assumed the be-ribboned child was the girl).

"Ah, I see now," Tailor said, lifting a hand again as he glanced at the screen. "You think she looks too much like Ruby to not wear a cloak?"

"I, uh... I guess?" Volka asked, blushing again.

"You probably should have chosen a picture where Ruby was actually wearing a cloak, then," Tailor said, making Volka's blush deepen further. "But I suppose it could work," he added after a moment, turning back to Summer to hide his smirk from her cousin.

At a twitch of his lifted hand, white cloth spilled from one of the spools of cloth next to him, floating over to Summer and sliding onto her shoulders smoothly. The length of cloth unraveled once the cloak fell down to her ankles, effectively shearing from the rest of the pristine roll of cotton, and then re-raveled itself into a smooth hemline. Simultaneously, more white cloth was stripped from the spool and molded itself behind Summer's neck, swiftly forming a hood.

Summer swallowed again when she felt the rapid movements of the sewing needles stitching her clothes together again, this time made even more disconcerting due to the fact that she could see them flash through the air in front of her before disappearing behind her back.

"You know, Ruby's cloak was red," Volka pointed out to Tailor, who merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, but shouldn't she be her own person?" Tailor asked, making Volka cock her head sideways at him. "Besides, she's got enough red on her. Any more and she'd look a bit off, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Volka said after a moment, looking Summer over again. "The white cloak seems... odd, though. I don't know why."

"You want a black one?" Tailor asked, making Summer freeze for a moment.

"I, uh... this isn't... waterproof, is it?" Summer asked tentatively. When Tailor shook his head, she asked, "What would it take to get one that is?"

"A few days, and some more caps," Tailor said, shrugging a shoulder. "I can work cloth in a lot of ways, but weather-proofing is beyond my Semblance. Assuming I've already got all the materials I'd need, treating the fabric and then letting everything settle in would take time. If I don't have it, well, Volka knows the caravans' habits better than me," Tailor added, glancing pointedly at Volka.

"It'd be a month, at least," she said, grimacing.

"I... I think I'll want one, uh, weather-proofed," Summer said, shifting her shoulders and feeling the cloak shift easily along with her. It was lightweight enough that she could only barely tell that she was wearing it, and oddly stretchy, she felt was the word for it: it didn't constrict her shoulders or arms at all. "A, uh, a red one, please," she added, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a small smile when she saw the triumphant grin stretch her cousin's features.

"Of course you do," Tailor said, sighing over-dramatically enough that the two women could easily tell it was faked. "Well, my earlier point still stands. You'll want to pair it with something other than that sweater if you want to wear a red cloak, or you'll look like a raspberry."

"Huh?" Summer mumbled, frowning at him; she hadn't recognized the word.

"I'd pair it with something black," Tailor continued, not noticing her question. "Probably a tunic or something. But we don't need to deal with that now if you don't want to," he added, glancing between Summer and Volka. "Of course, I don't know how long you're planning on staying, but if you're staying at least a few days and have been borrowing Asra's clothes, I'm gonna guess you'll want something of your own to sleep in."

"Yeah, that's on the list," Volka said, scratching at the bridge of her nose somewhat sheepishly as she faced Summer again. "I think you'll have to take your clothes off again, Summer. Sorry."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Why bottle caps?" Summer asked as she and Volka left Mummy's Wrappings nearly half an hour later, a canvas bag draped over her shoulder and bulging with the clothes that Volka had bought for her, as well as the clothes she'd borrowed from Asra.

"Huh?" Volka asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Why do you use bottle caps as money?" Summer asked.

"Well, uh... you know, I've never really thought about it," Volka said, tapping a finger to her chin. "It's been this way for as long as I've been alive, so... I don't know. Why? What'd you use in your Vault?"

"We didn't have money," Summer said with a shrug – and then immediately checked to make sure she hadn't knocked her cloak off her shoulders. "Whenever we actually needed to ask someone for something, we'd just agree to trade favors or, on rare occasions, rations."

"Huh," Volka said, smiling at her cousin. "Well, that's something you'll need to get used to out here, Summer. Caps are... basically the same thing, honestly: they're a promise of goods or favors in the future that can be fulfilled by just about anyone. That's what money is, really."

"Huh," Summer said. The two continued walking along, in a silence that steadily grew more awkward as they both felt that they should talk about something, but weren't sure quite what to say. "Uh..." Summer began, rolling her shoulders uncomfortably. "Where are we going?"

"Oh, uh... I'm not sure," Volka admitted, her cheeks reddening as she came to a stop. "We could... uh... how good are you with that pistol of yours?" she asked, glancing roughly in the direction of Rhonwen's home.

"Good," Summer said, shifting again. "Better than anyone else I know... knew."

Volka winced at the correction, then shook her head fiercely and said, "Well, uh, do you know how to fight? Like, up close and personal?" Summer shook her head, frowning at the blonde as she continued, saying, "Well, that might be a good thing to learn. I could teach you a thing or two about how to fight with your fists, if you want. Or at least help you start exercising in preparation for it," Volka added, awkwardly clenching and unclenching her hands at her sides.

"I, uh... okay?" Summer asked, frowning at Volka.

"Okay!" she exclaimed, happy to finally have _something_ to talk about for more than a minute.

"But, uh... shouldn't I learn about... all that other stuff you and Ferrer mentioned earlier?" Summer asked, making Volka's enthusiasm waver. "The, uh, stuff like finding food and water, and dealing with radiation, and all that stuff?"

"Right," Volka said, grimacing. "I, uh... don't actually know a whole lot about that stuff. I was lucky enough to have a decent quality Dust crystal for water, and my Semblance lets me metabolize radiation and use it to heal myself, which made starvation and malnutrition less of an issue than they could've been. Uh... Oh, I know. We'll ask Asra," she said, smiling once more. "I'm sure she'll be happy to help you, Summer. Plus, it'll give you another excuse to keep coming back to us while you're... while you're out looking for revenge," she added, grimacing again.

"Okay," Summer said, forcing herself to smile at her cousin. "Thanks, Volka."

"No problem," Volka said, returning the smile until she realized something else. "Oh, do you want to see more of the town? Maybe the farm?"

"... Sure? I guess?" Summer asked, tilting her head to one side. "Why?"

"Well, uh, there's a place near the farm that's good to do any training," Volka said, somewhat awkwardly. "An old barn, I think, but it's in good shape. The wood didn't rot, somehow, and most of the metal bits are rust-free. Good place to do pull-ups and stuff."

"Okay?" Summer said, once again turning the statement into a question.

"Great! Let's, uh, let's try to time it so we can go back to my place for lunch afterward, okay? That way we can just rope Asra into it while we're there."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Volka's version of a "basic" workout was far more intensive than Summer had thought possible. By the end of it, her clothes were drenched in sweat and her body was aching in places that Summer hadn't thought _could_ hurt. Volka let her use their shower while she made lunch, which they shared with Asra, who seemed to wake up when she smelled the mix of vegetables and leftover venison that Volka managed to scrounge out of their freezer.

By the time they had finished eating, Asra had agreed to teaching Summer how to survive in the wilderness with a level of enthusiasm that made Volka feel a bit suspicious of her longtime friend. She just chalked it up to an instinctual desire to protect her family and ignored it, and watched the two Faunus leave her home with a mix of worry and anticipation.

"So, the first thing we'll need to do is find a decent source of water," Asra began as she walked Summer in a straight line out of town. The two of them had been let through the gates without more than a few exchanged words with the militiaman on duty, though he had given Summer an odd look, as he'd seen her leave and then return with Volka not long ago. "Clean water is hardest to find, unless you've got a decent piece of Dust, so we're going to focus on how to purify water once we find it, too."

"Why wouldn't I have Dust?" Summer asked, already frowning at the feline Faunus.

"Well, there's a whole bunch of reasons why you might not always have access to Dust to make your water," Asra said. "If you bought a lower-quality crystal, for example, it might crumble to bits while you're halfway between settlements. High-quality Dust doesn't have that problem, of course, but if you get attacked by bandits and somehow managed to get away, you might have to leave most of your gear behind. Or maybe they'd steal it and leave you alive, for some reason."

"F-for some reason?" Summer repeated, fear plain in her voice.

Asra grimaced, shook her head, and said, "Sorry, but there's not a lot of people in this world who'd rob you and then let you live. The ones who do are typically slavers, too, so that doesn't really solve your problem. Pieces of shit." she added, her jaw tightening. She shook her head again, forcing herself to relax when she saw how Summer's eyes had widened at her outburst, and said, "Sorry. Anyway, water. You might've learned this at some point in one of your science classes in your Vault, but there's water in the air around you pretty much all the time. It takes certain devices to actually make much use of it, though, and something like a working vaporator is even more rare than a high-quality crystal of water Dust."

"Really?" Summer asked.

"Yeah. Even one would be enough to solve a lot of our problems with the ground water around here," Asra said, letting out a small sigh. "Whoever settled here before the war made a pretty efficient reservoir about a quarter mile over that way," she added, pointing southwest – at least, Summer thought it was southwest – before continuing, "but it probably wasn't designed to go hundreds of years without maintenance. Rust, mold, dirt, and occasionally drowned animals wind up in the damn thing all the time, so we really need a working purifier to get clean water from it. Thanks again, by the way," she added, making Summer blush and look down at the ground as they kept walking.

"Anyway," Asra continued, shaking her head again. "So, the easiest way to get water out in the wilderness is to just find a stagnant pool of it and scoop some out to boil, but where water is won't always be immediately obvious. There isn't always a lake, or even a pond, so you'll need to be willing to do a bit of digging sometimes."

"If I'm thirsty enough to want to dig for ground water, wouldn't I already be too far gone to get any?" Summer pointed out, drawing a tentative nod from Asra.

"Yes and no. If you're talking about digging for a _big_ source of water, then yeah, you'll be fucked," Asra said, making Summer frown at the utterance. "But you probably won't be needing enough to start a well: you'll just want enough to last before you get moving again. So, that said, look down," Asra said, coming to a sudden stop that made Summer freeze.

Summer did as Asra asked, only to frown again as she didn't see anything unusual about the tall grass beneath them. At least, not when compared to the grass all around them – she still found it distracting, as it was something she'd only ever read about and never actually _seen_ until recently. "What am I looking for?"

"Right now, color," Asra said, kneeling in the dirt and taking off the simple backpack she'd put on before they left. After a moment, Summer went to her knees as well, thoroughly confused as she looked at the grass around her. "You see how the grass over here has a somewhat darker tint compared to the grass over there? With this species of grass, that means it's getting more water over here. Since it rained not too long ago, that means there's probably still some water within a few feet of the surface. Which means," Asra continued, rooting through her backpack and pulling out a collapsible shovel, "it's time to dig."

Half an hour later, Asra let out a sigh and told Summer to stop. She did, breathlessly thanking Asra as she nearly collapsed in the two-foot-deep and three-foot-wide hole she'd dug.

"I can't tell if this is because of your workout with Volka earlier, or if you really needed to start working out," Asra commented, drawing a pathetic scowl from Summer. "Hey, if you're digging for water, you don't want it to be so tiring that you start sweating. At least, not as much as you are."

Summer groaned, directing a miserable glance down at her clothes. "Second time today," she grumbled to herself, pulling at her shirt to keep it from clinging to her chest and unknowingly giving Asra a brief look at her bra and the sweat-shined breasts they contained. "Least I have more," Summer continued to mumble, not noticing the sudden intensity of Asra's stare.

Another moment passed before Asra realized she'd been staring down Summer's shirt, and she shook her head intensely in an attempt to push her mind away from the lewd thoughts that had filled it. "You'll," Asra began, only to realize how husky her voice was and clear her throat. "You'll get better at it with some practice, Summer. Besides, while water's arguably the most important part of survival – in fact, I'd argue that myself – there's more to it than that. Food, shelter, and the ability to defend yourself from a variety of different threats are all essential in the Wasteland."

Summer, having taken advantage of Asra's speech to get her breathing back under control, asked, "Why do you call it the Wasteland?"

Asra laughed softly, shaking her head. After a moment, though, she stopped laughing, cocked her head to one side, and said, "Huh. I guess you have only seen the best of what we've got to offer, haven't you? Just the fifteen miles between an abandoned factory at the edge of a crater and one of the better towns left in the world, where the rain doesn't burn your skin off."

"What?" Summer asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, that happens in a few parts of the world. Well, Volka says it does, anyway," Asra amended, letting a conspiratorial smirk lift her lips. With a wink, she bent towards Summer and added, "She likes to tell stories, you see. But not everything makes for a good enough story, in her eyes, so she plays things up sometimes."

Summer just stared at her, as if she wondered why Asra had leaned over to tell her that.

"Anyway," Asra said, straightening again, "I think you've had enough of a break for now, but I don't think you're ready to get back into digging quite yet. So, what would you like to learn about next? Hunting is what I'd choose, but I'm just gonna lecture you anyway, so I'll let you pick."

"Uh... okay?" Summer asked, only to notice something out of the corner of her eye and turn to look at it. "Is that normal?" she asked, her brow furrowing as she saw half a dozen different animals emerge from the forest.

"Huh? Oh, shit," Asra hissed under her breath, drawing a box-like pistol from beneath her coat. "Ferals. You've got a gun, right?"

Before Summer could answer, the two wolves in the group tilted their heads back and let out a pair of long, almost sorrowful howls, as did the tiger standing between them. The gorilla huffed out a pair of deep breaths loud enough for the two Faunus to hear despite the hundreds of feet between them, the ram let out a bleating yell, and the elephant at the rear of the pack let loose a trumpeting scream that drowned out everything else and made Summer flinch.

As Asra opened a small compartment in her gun and switched out the length of clear white crystal within it for a similarly-sized crystal of yellow flecked with blue, Summer had already drawn her own pistol and fired two shots at one of the wolves. The bullets struck it right in the throat, cutting off its howl and staggering it for a brief moment, but they'd bounced off of its hide without so much as drawing blood.

"Their skin's too tough for that to work," Asra said, sliding closed the ammunition compartment on her gun. "Unless you can get them in the eye or mouth, you're–"

Before Asra could finish, Summer fired again, cutting her off with the thunderclap of sound her gun spat out with its latest bullet. A spray of blood flew from one of the elephant's eyes, and it let out another trumpeting roar, only to fall silent when Summer fired again, burying her bullet deep through its other eye and sending it straight into its brain. The great beast's legs collapsed beneath it, and it fell onto its side – where the ram had been standing. Crushed under the elephants bulk, it could do little more than let out a panicked bleat as its body was slowly flattened by its ally's weight.

"Okay, nice shot," Asra said, eyes wide as she stared at the havoc Summer had wrought so easily. "I guess you weren't exaggerating how good you were with that thing."

Summer didn't reply; instead, she took a pair of shots at the gorilla, which had already covered half of the distance between them in a loping, diagonal stride. One of the bullets bounced off of its cheek, the other off the bridge of its nose, but neither affected its narrowed, hateful stare.

Until Asra fired her weapon, that is, producing a ball of flickering blue electricity that slammed into the gorilla's chest and made it fall to the ground, convulsing. It raised its head, letting out a snarl that made Summer feel like her whole body was shaking, only for Asra to fire her weapon again and paralyze it with its mouth wide open, something that Summer couldn't help but take advantage of.

Once Summer had executed the gorilla, Asra looked back to the tiger and wolves, which were steadily approaching in alternating serpentine patterns, shielding each others faces with their bodies as they closed the distance between them and the two Faunus. Asra raised her gun and fired a few blasts of electricity at them, but all but one missed thanks to the animals' speed; Summer noticed, and managed to pick off the stunned wolf with a single well-placed shot to the eye.

But then the remaining wolf was upon her. Summer let out a fearful scream as it slammed shoulder-first into her chest, knocking her to the ground.

"Summer!" Asra shouted, already bringing her gun up to fire at the wolf before it could hurt the Aura-less young woman, only for the tiger to jump onto her, knocking the Dust-based energy weapon from her hands and sending her to the ground as well. The tiger's claws raked at her back, its jaws clamped onto her shoulder, but as much as Asra struggled she couldn't get up. Her efforts only redoubled when she heard a gunshot coming from Summer's direction, but the way the tiger had pinned her meant that she couldn't see her.

She stilled once her PIP-Boy beeped out a warning that her Aura was at less than thirty percent of its maximum, a tear rolling down her cheek as she grit her jaw and tried to resign herself to her fate.

So, when Asra heard a gunshot right next to her head and the tiger collapsed lifelessly onto her back, she was understandably startled.

With an unladylike grunt of effort, Summer struggled to move the tiger, but wasn't quite able to do it. Once Asra's still stunned mind managed to put together what had happened, she started pushing as well, helping the physically exhausted younger woman move the three hundred pound feline from her back. The moment she was freed, Asra found herself hauled up onto her knees and wrapped in a tight, tear-soaked hug.

"You're okay," Summer mumbled. "You're okay. You're okay," she continued to mumble, slowly rocking herself back and forth and tightening her grip on Asra.

It took Asra a moment to realize why Summer seemed so distraught. Having just lost everyone, she'd been found by people who'd offered her help, given her food and shelter and medical aid, and treated her kindly and with absolute patience, and then nearly had one of those kind people, those potential friends, taken from her by something she'd never so much as heard about in her entire life.

So, as she returned the hug that Summer was giving her, Asra did the only thing she could think of to help calm her down: arm her with knowledge.

"Ferals," Asra muttered, stopping Summer's frightened mantra mid-sentence. "They look like real animals, except for their eyes, which always look Human, no matter what the real version of that animal's eyes should look like. They attack Faunus, and only Faunus, unless a Human or Grimm attacks them first or they get hungry, at which point they typically go after real animals. Their skin is tough enough to deflect lower caliber bullets," Asra continued, at this point realizing that she was going over the information for her own benefit as well as Summer's. She cleared her throat; then, cheeks turning a bright shade of red, she added, "Thanks, by the way. For, uh, for saving me."

Summer just took a shaky breath, further tightened her hold on Asra, and kept rocking back and forth. They stayed like that for long enough that Asra's leg began to cramp, at which point she forcibly broke the hug.

"Summer," Asra said, standing up and stretching her leg as Summer stared up at her, embarrassment clear in her silver eyes. "Look, I get that you're a bit... distraught, because of what just happened. But this wasn't... this wasn't really anything out of the ordinary for the Wasteland. People get hurt, and even killed, every day out here, and you need to be ready and willing to deal with that if you want to go."

Summer blinked away the lingering tears, swallowed, and stumbled over her words as she shakily asked, "Are... are you... your Aura pro-... protected you, right?"

Asra blinked down at her, then let out a small sigh and let a smile curve her lips. "Yes, Summer. It's one of the reasons I've managed to survive this long."

"Then... then it's true," Summer mumbled, turning her gaze back to the ground. "I... I know that Ferrer showed me this morning, but... why weren't we... who would..." she continued to mumble under her breath, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Hey!" Asra exclaimed loudly, snapping Summer's attention back to her. "I'll help you figure things out, okay? I promise, even if all I can do is just teach you how to survive and let you bounce ideas off me, I'll do what I can to help you," she said, letting herself fall to one knee as she placed a hand on Summer's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Asra, I..." Summer said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as tears threatened to spill from them again. "Thank you."

"Now, this is kinda awkward given what I just said, but we should get back inside the walls," Asra said, rising to her feet again. "I, well, _we_ need to tell the militia about what happened. If we're lucky, those were the only Ferals out in the forest, but I doubt it."

With that said, Asra extended a hand to Summer, who hesitantly let Asra haul her back to her feet. On the walk back, Summer couldn't help but sneak glances at the Faunus beside her, at first from a mixture of embarrassment and worry: despite all the evidence she'd been given so far, she still couldn't quite believe that Aura was as remarkable as everyone had said it was.

But, just before they reached the gate, when Summer glanced at Asra again, she realized that Asra looked a great deal like Layla. From the shape of her jaw, to the not-quite-feminine broadness of her shoulders, to the way she kept her hips almost perfectly level as she walked, Summer saw her cousin in nearly every move Asra made.

She couldn't tell if what she was seeing was accurate or if she was just making up connections between one of the few people who'd helped her and the only member of her family who she'd dearly loved, but Summer felt her heart flutter in her chest as she stared at Asra.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

And thus this chapter ends.

Before the rewrite, I had a few things written here, but none of them are particularly relevant or accurate anymore, so let's just call it for the day.

Until next time.


	4. Chapter 3

Welcome back, everyone!

Today's chapter is a bit more laid-back than the previous ones. At least, that's the plan. Who knows where I'll end up once I get down to it? [Ten days later] Well, that got away from me. This isn't really laid-back at all. Oh well, that just means that there's some combat for you folks to enjoy, nyahaha!

Backstory time, ne? Well, then I might as well talk a bit about weaponry. Specifically, the differences between what I'll be referring to as "civilian weapons" and "Huntsman weapons". Although, you can probably already tell what I intend with a name like that, ne?

You see, back during the Second Great War, Huntsmen were needed on the battlefield, as was every solider that could be spared; the problem with that, however, was that those soldiers and Huntsmen were needed to defend the civilians as well. So, those clever minds at the Schnee Dust Company and Scattered Rose Munitions decided to distribute weaker weaponry to civilians so that they could defend themselves against the Grimm but not cause an uprising against the police forces attempting to maintain order.

Of course, this really only worked for the Atlas and Vale Alliance, as Atlas could spare robotic foot-soldiers to assist on the battlefields, allowing the citizens of Vale, who were still very distrustful of robots after the CCT Crisis of 503 (you know the one), to be kept in line by the soldiers that could be left behind.

To be clear, these weapons were intentionally scaled down from how powerful they could have been so that anyone with an Aura could stand up to them without much danger, which would allow those soldiers mentioned to handle any incidents that arose from the stress of war. Certain key components of the weapons were made of a special composite material discovered during the previous Great War: Adamantine. Perhaps you've heard of it?

Nah, who'm I kidding? This Adamantine is far different from what you might think. It looks like ordinary steel, although it has a greenish hue in the right light, but it is much more pliant and weak than ordinary steel. No, Adamantine was prized for its unique effect: it drains the Aura of anything it comes into direct contact with. So those Dust-ignited bullets? Dampened by Adamantine hammers. Dust, propelled by an Energy Weapon? Weakened by Adamantine tracks lining the barrel of the gun; flaws in the construction of the B-2 series Blaster Pistols caused the Adamantine tracks to spiral around the barrel, producing an odd spiraling of the less solid Dust types fired from it.

If only there was someone, a main character perhaps, with a hefty knowledge of mechanics and a love for firearms to fix this intentional limiter! Nyahaha! Of course, weapons forged in the Wasteland are unlikely to have this flaw, as Adamantine isn't something that any smith in their right mind would put into a gun.

As for what Adamantine _is_ used for in the Wasteland, certain nations, such as the Legion of Light and the NCR, enjoy having it made into manacles to confine their more problematic lawbreakers, although they also give their specialty units (such as NCR Rangers, which are probably the closest things to Huntsmen in the Wasteland) their pick of special Adamantine munitions and weaponry to better hunt down the nation's enemies.

You know, speaking of the CCT Crisis, wasn't there a brief gag where Penny was exposed to a magnet and just needed to wear a hat to cover it up? Wouldn't our electronics be utterly fucked by that? Hm, I wonder what that says about Penny being able to come back in a future Volume... nyahaha!

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

"Ferals? In the forest?" Ferrer asked, twirling his fork around his hand as he sank back in his chair with a sigh. "Damn it, Asra. If it was anyone else, I'd swear they were making it up, too." Ferrer was in his home, along with Asra and Volka; the three of them had only just sat down to eat some of Volka's cooking.

"So, what's the plan?" Asra asked, setting her spoon back down in her bowl of soup and picking up her small piece of bread. "They should leave Humans alone, if they stick to their normal patterns, but as far as I know Volka hasn't cleared the whole forest of radiation."

"I still haven't gotten to the northern half," Volka said, nibbling at her own piece of bread.

Ferrer sighed, rubbing at his forehead with his free hand. "I guess I'll have to send some extra security to the lumber crew."

"Do you want me out there with them, or should I stick around the caravans for the day?" Volka asked, drinking from her glass of carrot juice.

"No, stick with the merchants," Ferrer instructed, nodding his head appreciatively at Volka. "If those Ferals ignore our lumber crew and come after Asra and Summer, I'll want you and your sword around town."

"Speaking of Summer, where'd you put her?" Volka asked Asra.

"After we went to see Tailor, I gave her to Rhonwen and Haruki," Asra said, shrugging. "Seeing those Ferals just made her even more set on getting revenge, so I figured the doctors should make sure she knows at least basic first aid. Plus, I bet Rhonwen wanted to make sure Summer's gunshot wound was healing right."

"Good call," Ferrer said, staring at the noodles and small bits of mutton he'd wrapped around his fork with a critical eye. "No matter what happens, we want her to come back to us, and giving her these survival skills will endear her to us and make her more likely to, well, survive."

"That's a bit dark, don't you think?" Volka asked, frowning at Ferrer. "I mean, you kinda sound like the villain of one of those old stories Asra's always reading."

"He's right, though," Asra said, nodding her head. "She's the only person we've ever met who's been able to fix that damn purifier, and she's one hell of a shot, too. Seriously, she put down six Ferals with one shot each, dead center through the eye, and that was with a damn pistol; imagine what she could do if she got her hands on a rifle! If any one person can get the NCR to recognize us as an independent city, it's definitely gonna be her."

Volka grit her teeth and sat back in her chair, glaring at her meal as if now disgusted by it. "Damn bastards," Volka muttered before she shook her head and turned her gaze back to Asra. "That reminds me, you have to leave in a few days for the delivery, don't you?"

Asra nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. I just hope there aren't storms this time. It took me a full week to get back here last month."

"Did we manage to get enough Dust?" Ferrer asked, frowning nervously.

"Yeah, I got a couple dozen pounds of it in my bag," Asra said, nodding her head. "Did the twins make enough seeds while I was gone, or do we still need them to work a bit more?"

"They got the ten pounds the Corporal wanted," Ferrer said, nodding. "It's already in a transport box for when you need to take it with you."

"Thanks," Asra said. "I just hope we can get out from under the NCR's thumb sooner or later. Then I wouldn't need to make that gods' damned run every month."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Try it again," Rhonwen said, smiling encouragingly at Summer, who was without her cloak for the time being. Summer swallowed at the dry lump forming in her throat and closed her eyes, concentrating as she slowly lifted her hand so that it ran perpendicular to the ground; the 9mm bullet she'd been cradling stuck there for a long moment, held up by her newly unlocked Aura, before it fell to the wooden floor.

"Damn it," Summer said, panting and blinking quickly, her vision distorted by how tightly she'd shut her eyes. "Why is this so hard?"

"Well, normally we teach children these things," Rhonwen said, still smiling at Summer. "Kids tend to pick things up quicker than adults, after all. But, don't give up; whenever you get a chance, just practice it with whatever you have on hand. A bullet, a rock, even a leaf would do."

"Course, might be easier if we teach yah how tah project rather than pull," the only other occupant of Yang's Rest's medical center said. He wore a pristine white doctor's coat, which only served to make his golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes seem all the brighter. His face bore numerous scars, some bearing crisscrossed marks on top of them, as if the stitches he'd once had turned into scars as well. "If yahr plannin' on bein' out for long, yah'll want tah know how tah bump up yahr shots."

"Hmm, that's true," Rhonwen mumbled, glancing with a raised brow at her colleague, whom she had only met a week beforehand. "I don't know if I can teach her to do that, though. Through a ranged weapon, I mean; I can do it with my hands just fine, but I don't know if it's different with a gun."

"A bit," the doctor said, chewing softly on the unlit cigarette between his lips. "'S'fine, though; just let ol' Haruki teach yah. First, let's flip a coin," he said, pulling a small silver coin, bearing a two-headed eagle on one side and blank on the other, from one of the pockets of his coat. "Yah know how tah do that, right?"

"Y-yes," Summer said, accepting the coin that Haruki offered. She maneuvered it over her thumbnail, readying herself to flick the coin into the air.

"Good so far," Haruki said, narrowing his almond-shaped eyes as he looked over Summer's hand. "Not the best Ah've seen, but it'll do. Now, pushing wit' yahr Aura's a bit different than pulling; instead of pulling, yah'll be wanting tah push."

"What a wonderful explanation," Rhonwen muttered, rolling her eyes. "What he means is that you'll be wanting to let go of the Aura you're cycling out completely, instead of trying to tether it back into yourself," Rhonwen said, once more smiling encouragingly at Summer. "Just go with the same amount you've been using for the Grip for now, and we can try to increase it from there."

"Okay," Summer said, closing her eyes once more as she concentrated on her Aura again. She took a deep breath as she drew on the Aura within her; to her, it felt like stepping out into the sunlight just the day before, warmth that spoke of a whole new world of possibilities. A new world that Layla would never see. Summer rolled her jaw, feeling tension pop from the joints as she pulled her Aura into her thumb and felt it pour into the coin on top of it. With a flick, she sent it sailing in a streak of red light; the simple silver coin slammed into one of the small cots in the medical building, snapping the simple wooden frame it was made from.

"Well, that's quite a bit more power than yah've been using, Ah'd say," Haruki said, raising an eyebrow at the cot as Summer blushed. "Few shots of that in that gun o' yahrs'd be enough to take down an Ursa, maybe even a Nevermore."

"That seems like it'd be a bit too much to be sustainable, though," Rhonwen said, tapping Summer's left arm. "Let me see your PIP-Boy real quick, okay?"

"U-um," Summer mumbled, lifting her arm meekly and shifting on the stool that she was sitting on so that Rhonwen could access its touch screen. "Okay."

"Yah seem a bit more timid than Rhonwen led me tah believe," Haruki commented, drawing another blush from Summer. "Wit' all that endorphin shit yah've apparahntly got going on, Ah thought yah'd be more chipper and likely tah talk my ears off."

Summer shook her head nervously, looking down at the floor as Rhonwen tinkered with her PIP-Boy's settings. "I-I guess I'm a bit tired," Summer said quietly. Flashes of everything she'd already seen and done appeared before her eyes, her mind producing the image of Asra's rather hefty breasts for longer than she'd like, given the circumstances; she frowned, shaking the image from her head.

"Adrenaline will do that to you," Rhonwen said, tapping at the screen. "Although, with your oddities, I'd imagine that you're likely to go back to that sort of mentality before long. Alright, all done!" Rhonwen exclaimed suddenly, almost cutting off her previous sentence as she nodded to herself.

Summer looked from Rhonwen to her PIP-Boy, only to be surprised by the large readout appearing on it. Bracketed numbers appeared in three groups along the top (labeled AURA, RAD, and SEN, respectively), and an almost comical depiction of a woman stood with its arms spread in the middle of the screen, a small text box (which read "INJURED") rising from its left shoulder.

"What's this?" Summer asked, frowning worriedly at her PIP-Boy before she looked back at Rhonwen.

"That is the Life In Distress Screen," Rhonwen said, smiling at Summer and cocking her head to the side in a way that made her white hair bob up and down. "Called LIDS for short. It's a general menu that'll tell you if you get injured and how bad the injury is. In addition, it tracks your Aura and how much radiation you've taken in."

"Okay," Summer said slowly, looking over the screen. "So, what, I'm missing a couple pips of Aura? Is that why you opened this?"

"Each pip represents two percent of your Aura," Rhonwen explained, her smile turning into a rather serious look. "It rounds down so that you always guess the worst, but the readout says 97% right now. If you were doing the Grip wrong and were actually losing that Aura, I'd be less concerned about how much you lost over the course of this little training session, but I'm pretty sure you lost most of it from that coin toss you just did."

"RAD is probably radiation," Summer mumbled, frowning at the display. "So, what's this SEN meter? It looks full."

"Honestly, I have no idea," Rhonwen said, smiling to herself as she shook her head. "My PIP-Boy has it too, but the only other PIP-Boy's I've seen it on 'til now were all Goodwitch models. Maybe it has something to do with the SPECIAL model PIP-Boys?"

"Yah don't know?" Haruki asked, raising an eyebrow at Rhonwen. "Those PIP-Boys of yahrs... yah seriously don't know?"

"No, we don't," Rhonwen replied, looking back at Haruki with a frown. "Why? Do you?"

"Yeah," Haruki said, grimacing. "But 'tain't exactly a pleasant secret. Yah sure yah wanna know?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

 _"I'll go out, then," Asra said, rolling her eyes as Ferrer looked disapprovingly at the single militiaman that he'd managed to spare. "They'll come to a Faunus, even if they're irradiated."_

 _Ferrer turned to face the cat-eared woman, his mouth opening as he prepared an argument, only to pause as he saw the look of stubborn determination that he saw in her eyes. "Fine," Ferrer said with a sigh, glaring at Asra for a moment. "But take something better than Ice or Lightning. Those don't do much against them. And Storm, you go with her."_

 _"Roger, boss!" the militiaman said, slapping his hand to his forehead in a salute, his assault carbine gripped loosely in his other hand._

"So," Storm said, his grey eyes darting around the forest he and Asra were walking through, "you do this sort of thing often?"

Asra glanced at him, her frown not quite severe enough to be called a scowl. "What sort of thing?" Asra asked, her voice low and tired. The sun had already reached its zenith for the day and begun to fall hours ago, although it was difficult to see past the canopy above them.

"Well, this sort of hunting thing," Storm said, waving his free hand in front of him. His assault carbine, painted a dark shade of grey that didn't reflect much light, was still in his other hand, although a single cloth strap that had been tied around the weapon's barrel was wrapped around his back and over his shoulder. He wore a black tactical vest, the metal plating it contained scavenged from scrap metal he'd placed in small hiding spots all over Vale; beneath it was a simple black T-shirt, and the pair of dark grey trousers he wore were torn in several places, revealing his nearly knee-high black combat boots. "You know, risking your life for the sake of others?"

Asra blinked at him, then chuckled, turning her head back to the rough dirt path in front of them. "When you put it like that," Asra began, smiling, "it seems like I do it a lot."

"Any tips you can give me?" Storm asked, rolling his shoulders as he looked around nervously. "I'm more used to taking things as they come, not going out hunting for trouble."

"This isn't the way I do things, either," Asra said, chuckling again. "I prefer getting the jump on my enemies, killing them before they've even seen me. With Ferals, well... we're closer to something you're used to than me, Storm. You were a caravan guard, right?"

"Yep," Storm said, chewing his lip as he looked around them. "So you're saying we're just gonna lure them out into the open, then blast 'em?"

"That's about the gist of it," Asra said, frowning.

"Well, now that's no trouble at all," Storm said, visibly relaxing as he scratched at his mess of black hair. "Hope you'll forgive me for this, but I feel much better now that I know I've gotta protect you rather than hunt something. More used to it."

"I hope so," Asra said, the feline ears atop her head twitching as she drew her Blaster Pistol and came to a stop, glancing at the trees lining the dirt path. "Because we're surrounded."

"Ah, crap," Storm said, grimacing as he brandished his rifle at the spaces between the trees, putting his back to Asra's. "You know how many?"

"Not a clue," Asra said, checking to make sure she'd loaded the right kind of Dust into her weapon. "Let's just get through this, okay? I'd like to get back and take a nap before the moon rises."

Storm snorted off a laugh. "Glad to hear you've got that much faith in me, boss."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX (AN: Nyahaha, again!)

"Are you kidding me?" Rhonwen asked, her eyes wide as she stared unblinkingly at Haruki. Summer, sitting next to her, was also staring wide-eyed at the doctor, only to glance down at her PIP-Boy in horror. "Are you seriously fucking kidding me?!"

"That... that's horrible," Summer muttered, unable to tear her eyes from the rose petals painted onto the metal of her PIP-Boy. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Way Ah heard it, things got bad," Haruki said, tapping a finger against his own PIP-Boy, a basic model. "Mine's got a whole bunch o' logs from way back when. Even got some from those that most call gods these day. They paint a pretty shitty picture."

"How do you even know this stuff?" Rhonwen asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Di'n't Ah just tell yah?" Haruki asked, raising an eyebrow at the white-haired woman. "If yah're looking for more, Ah was raised in the Brotherhood of Dust. Got framed for stealing meds' a few years back, been here ever since, but Ah was a pretty high-ranking Scribe back in the day. Got access to a whole bunch o' logs that normal folks don't get a chance to see, 'cluding the fact that Ruby Rose married a woman 'stead of a man, like most of the Brotherhood gets taught."

"Why would they change that?" Rhonwen asked, frowning, only to shake her head dismissively. "No, wait, let's get back on track: our PIP-Boys, all SPECIAL model PIP-Boys, have souls in them?!"

"Fragments," Haruki corrected, nodding his head. "Far as Ah know, there were only four types of SPECIAL models made: Goodwitch was the first. Old logs say she was dying either way, from age or her injuries, and wanted tah make sure she could keep helping as many people as she could, so she volunteered for Vault-Tec's PIP-Boy project and let her soul get split into two-hundred and twenty pieces to fill PIP-Boys with. She didn't survive the process."

"Oh, god," Rhonwen mumbled, swallowing the lump that had grown in her throat as she looked down at her PIP-Boy bound in purple leather.

"Next were Wukong and Nikos," Haruki continued, ignoring Rhonwen's disgust. "They worked at Vault-Tec, pretty high up, too; think Nikos was CEO or something. They took a beating sometime before the war and couldn't help much, so they must'a thought t'was the best way to help. Each split their soul into ninety-six pieces, but made sure to keep one each for themselves, so there's ninety-five of those models out there."

"A-and Ruby?" Summer asked, her voice small and weak as she kept staring at her own PIP-Boy. "Wh-what happened to h-her?"

"Ah'm not really sure," Haruki said, shrugging one shoulder. "The logs weren't really all that specific; they just said something about her sacrificing herself to save a school. She was dying real slow when she volunteered for the program, but she was tight with the founders, so she got a special deal: there were only four Rose model PIP-Boys created. One for her wife, one for her daughter, and two for her closest friends. Ah'm guessing that's the one that went to her daughter," Haruki added, nodding his head at Summer's PIP-Boy.

"Why?" Rhonwen asked, looking back up at Haruki. "Why on Remnant would they do that?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Damn it!" Storm growled loudly; Asra barely heard the man over the hyperactive barking of his assault carbine as he took down Feral after Feral, littering the forest floor with the bodies of things that used to be Faunus. "How many of these fuckers are there?!"

"Too many!" Asra yelled, a blast of concussive fire lancing from her Blaster Pistol and exploding against a particularly large vulpine Feral, ripping through the nearly eight-foot-tall fox's neck and tearing off the arm of the equally massive bear standing next to it. "Fuck, this much noise might attract a Grimm or two," Asra mumbled under his breath as she fired again, killing the bear she'd wounded.

"Fuckers!" Storm shouted, bashing a small brown-furred wolf across its muzzle with his rifle. "Boss, I need to reload!" Storm yelled to Asra, drawing a short sword from the side of his rifle's barrel and stabbing the stunned Feral in the throat, only barely punching through its thick hide. "But I can't get the room!"

Asra hissed as a massive boar, its tusks bigger than her arms, rammed into her side and threw her into a tree; luckily for her, she still had most of her Aura after the impact, but the shockwave of pain that lanced up through her hip said that might not help her for much longer. "Damn it," Asra muttered, closing her eyes briefly as she focused on her Aura, sending threads of it into her Wukong model PIP-Boy.

 _"To lend their power to the people still fighting," Haruki said to Rhonwen and Summer. "The soul is the seat of the Semblance, after all; even divided into such small pieces, it's still enough to save lives."_

Black images coalesced around her, forming into a pair of seemingly holographic imitations of herself that lunged at the boar that had hit her; the first one that hit the boar popped in a concussive explosion, sending it flying away from her. The second one wrapped its arms around the boars neck before it popped, effectively decapitating the Feral with the sheer concussive force.

Asra raised her Blaster Pistol back up, firing off a trio of shots around Storm to force back the Ferals. "Reload already!" Asra shouted, raising her right arm as she sent her Aura into her PIP-Boy again, producing another pair of imitations, which leaped at the Ferals approaching her and popped, sending the pair of former wolf Faunus flying away from her.

"Thanks, boss!" Storm called back, popping the empty magazine out of his rifle and sliding in a fresh one in one fluid motion. His eyes danced around in their sockets as he examined the Ferals surrounding them, white sparks falling from his eyes as he gripped his Semblance. "You, pretty kitty," Storm mumbled under his breath as he raised his assault carbine and fired, unloading a dozen rounds into the back and hind legs of a massive white tiger that was preparing to pounce on Asra; it's spine severed, it crumpled to the forest floor and yowled pitifully, turning its eyes on Storm to glare at the black-haired man hatefully. Storm spun on his heel, sending a single three-shot burst into the muzzle of an almost equally massive wolf Feral that had been creeping up on the pair of them, its jaw horribly misshapen and its eyes glowing green with radiation; its eyes lost their glow pretty quickly after one of them had a bullet sail through it and ram through the Feral's brain.

With the two of them fighting together, they managed to thin the herd of Ferals fairly quickly; before long, they were only squaring off against a giant zebra, steam escaping its nostrils as it looked around it, its absurdly large muscles tensing up so it could run. Storm and Asra shot it down simultaneously, bullets ripping large gashes along its sides as a fireball exploded against its chest.

"Well, that was fun, boss," Storm said, ejecting the empty magazine from his rifle and swapping in a fresh one. "Got a little hairy there for a moment, though," he added, grinning cheekily at Asra, who merely sighed and shook her head.

"Don't do that," Asra groaned, rubbing at her forehead. "You've already given me a headache with your gun; don't make it worse by making an awful pun."

"Did you mean to rhyme there, or was it an accident?" Storm asked, still grinning even as Asra shoved his shoulder and walked past him, heading for Yang's Rest. Storm spared one last glance over his shoulder before the two of them left, and his eyes widened, white sparks still dripping from them. "Boss, run!" Storm shouted, his sudden change in demeanor making Asra whirl around to see the Beowolf Alpha that crouched quietly before them, its distended jaw dripping with blood, its fur matted with fresh gore that nearly covered the rib-like plating on its chest. The Grimm howled, an awful sound that was more like glass grinding against glass than a wolf's howl; several howls answered it, each one closer than the last.

"Storm, move!" Asra yelled at the man, turning back around and firing a parting shot at the Beowolf Alpha. "The guards can help us!"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"What was that?" Rhonwen asked, looking around the medical center as a faint howl came through the metal and wood walls.

"Trouble," Haruki answered, spitting to one side and pulling a revolver from a nearby desk. "Let's get outside."

"R-right," Rhonwen said, swallowing at the sudden lump that appeared in her throat and putting a hand on Summer's shoulder. The black-haired woman barely noticed, still staring in abject horror at the PIP-Boy she wore. "Summer, are you coming?"

Summer blinked, then shook her head as if clearing cobwebs from her mind. "Yeah," Summer said, standing up as she noticed the gun in Haruki's hand. "What's going on?" she asked, grabbing her white cloak and wrapping it over her shoulders.

"Grimm, most like," Haruki said grimly, his jaw set into a grimace as he flung open the door of the medical center. "Eben, just the man I wanted to see," Haruki added, stepping towards the man standing outside the building.

Sheriff Ebeneezer Rouge was not a tall man. Standing at a mere five foot one, Ebeneezer nonetheless cut a very imposing figure as he stood in the street, hefting what Summer at first thought was a door ripped from a Vault's living quarters; upon another second of inspection, she realized that it was merely an utterly massive shield, four feet tall and nearly three feet wide, set with massive chunks of brown and red Dust. In his other hand, he held a long, thin sword made of a metal that gleamed green in the sunlight; he let it rest over the thick metal pauldron on his shoulder shoulder, pushing his soft purple hair out of the way. His grey eyes looked like stones set into his face, his jaw looked hard enough to shatter metal, and the brown leather duster he wore fit tightly over the hulking muscles in his arms.

"Doc," the Sheriff said, nodding at man. "You heard them too?"

"Yep," Haruki responded, looking around them. "The guards ready?"

"As they can be," Ebeneezer said with a sigh, rolling his shoulders and walking towards the northern edge of town as another howl rang out.

"Can you tell us what's going on?" Rhonwen asked, looking between the two men with a frown.

"Beowolves," Ebeneezer said, not even glancing at Rhonwen. "Nasty bipedal wolf Grimm."

Summer let out a sigh as she drew her pistol. "Then I guess we should help," Summer said, checking to make sure the magazine loaded into the gun had enough ammunition for what was to come, the aggravated motions of her lupine tail telling just how frustrated she was, even through her cloak.

"Too dangerous," Haruki said instantly, not even glancing at Summer. "Yah don't know 'nough 'bout yahr Aura tah be doing this sort of thing."

"I don't plan on getting close," Summer growled, following them, Rhonwen close behind her. "Just close enough to put a bullet in their eyes."

"You won't get that shot," Ebeneezer said. "Grimm have natural armor growing on them. Well, as far as we know it grows on them."

"Wonderful," Rhonwen muttered under her breath. "If it helps, you don't have to think of us as active combatants," Rhonwen continued, bringing her voice back up to a more normal volume. "Treat us as support, if you must."

"You don't have to come with us, Rhonwen," Summer said, glancing around as another series of howls echoed around the buildings surrounding them. Gunfire grew in the distance, momentarily swallowed by the occasional explosion.

"What's this 'us' o' yahr's, girlie?" Haruki asked, scowling at Summer over his shoulder. "Yah shouldn't be coming neither."

Another howl, this one much closer, brought the group to a halt and sent Haruki into a fit of cursing beneath his breath. "Fuck, looks like we don't have much choice," Ebeneezer said with a sigh as he raised his shield sideways in front of him so that he could look over it. "Rhonwen, other girl, stay between us and the Grimm if you can."

A figure, almost entirely black, appeared on the roof of a nearby building, its long muzzle stained with old blood. Red eyes gleamed from beneath the bone-like mask attached to its canine face, and it roared, baring its sharp teeth, as it raised its long arms tipped with vicious-looking claws; if it had any actual intelligence to speak of, one would have assumed that it was trying to be intimidating.

Summer raised her gun instantly, firing off a pair of shots at the Beowolf; much to her surprise, the bullets bounced off of the creature's armored mask and the thick fur along its bloodied muzzle. "Wh-what?" Summer stammered, looking between her gun and the staggered Grimm with a mixture of disgust and curiosity etched across her face, her tail whipping excitedly beneath her cloak.

"Told yah," Haruki grunted, raising his revolver in a much slower motion and firing off a single shot at the Beowolf. His bullet, which left a streak of swiftly fading yellow light behind it, ripped through the Grimm's shoulder easily, drawing a pained roar from it. Haruki fired again, and again; his second shot found the Beowolf's belly, but his third shot found the beast's head, and it fell off the roof, dissolving into black dust the instant it hit the ground. "Bullets alone t'a'int enough. Yah gotta put some Aura in it tah do anythin' serious."

"Got it," Summer said, nodding her head. Another pair of Beowolves appeared, one on another rooftop and one of the street level, and Summer raised her gun, aiming at the one standing on a rooftop. She focused on her Aura, felt it flow through her, felt it pulse within her hands, her fingers, her pistol; when she fired, a brilliant streak of red light sailed from her gun and tore through the Beowolf's armored mask, causing it to dissolve almost instantly.

"Good shot," Ebeneezer commented before he charged the other Beowolf, his tower shield raised in front of him as a battering ram. He slammed into the Grimm, which didn't know enough to get out of the way, knocking the beast to the shoddily-paved street; once it was on the ground, he swung his massive Adamantine sword, cleaving through the Grimm's neck and hitting the ground hard enough to break the stones in the street.

"How much Aura did you use?" Rhonwen asked, worriedly glancing at Summer's PIP-Boy. Summer brought up the LIDS, wincing when she saw that she was missing another two of the pips that represented her Aura. "Four percent. That's far too much, Summer."

"Sorry," Summer mumbled sullenly, keeping her pistol in hand as the group continued on to the northern side of town. "I'm still new at this."

"I know, I know," Rhonwen said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. Just... tell me if you get below fifty percent, okay? I can use my Semblance to restore it, but only once a day; any more than that's too tiring."

"Got it," Summer said, nodding at Rhonwen. "Thanks."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Volka cleaved her sword through the thick hide of a Beowolf Alpha, looking around as it fell to the ground and dissolved. She frowned at the sheer number of Grimm that had appeared in Yang's Rest, most of which were being shot down by the guards posted atop the watch towers scattered throughout the small city. "Wonder what brought them here," Volka mumbled under her breath as she moved a lock of her long blonde hair from in front of her eyes to behind her ear.

"Don't know," Ferrer said, almost startling Volka as he appeared beside her. Long metal tubes had encased his forearms, thick blades jutting from them in seemingly random places. "I thought they were drawn to unrest, but we're one of the more peaceful places around."

"Must be something we don't know, then," Volka said, gritting her teeth as she saw Tailor use his Semblance to wrap a Beowolf in a long length of undyed wool, entangling the beast just long enough for Aina to ram a long knife through its skull. The two shared a worried look before they moved on, Tailor drawing the wool from the slowly dissolving corpse of the Grimm and reattaching it to the wide wooden spool he had strapped on his back. "Maybe they're changing."

"Hope not," Ferrer said, shuddering and grimacing at the thought. "That's a scary thought."

"We should keep moving," Volka sighed, cracking her neck as she took off at a sprint towards the northern edge of the city. "Asra and Storm might be in trouble."

"Right," Ferrer agreed, hurrying to keep up with the caravan guard.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Move your ass, boss!" Storm yelled, firing blindly behind him; though most of his shots found only the trees and ground, some of them buried themselves in the Beowolves and Ursas chasing them.

Asra grit her teeth as she fired her Blaster Pistol at an Ursa that was suddenly next to them, having crept up on the two during their run through the forest; the blast ripped it apart, but also caught the trees and brush nearest it on fire, making Asra wince. "Ferrer's gonna have my ass for that later," Asra mumbled to herself as she ran past the burning foliage. "We should be nearly out of the forest!" Asra called out, drawing a halfhearted nod from Storm.

Storm glanced around them as they finally made their way out of the forest, only for his eyes, still dripping with white sparks, to widen as he saw an utterly massive Ursa Major, nearly eighteen feet tall. Storm grabbed Asra's forearm and pulled her away from the massive beast as it roared, its eyes glowing grey as a torrent of wind fell from its jaw.

"What the fuck?!" Asra shouted, firing at the Ursa Major only for her gun's fireballs to explode against the Wind pouring from its mouth. "What's going on?!"

"Don't know, but we can't fight that!" Storm growled, glancing at Asra as he continued to drag the black-haired woman away from the Grimm.

"What are you talking about?!" Asra screamed at Storm, trying to pull her arm from his grip as she shot at the Ursa.

"Litany Semblance, Analysis!" Storm explained in a hurry, still dragging Asra along. "I can see strength as a number, and that thing is in the five hundreds! Its defense alone is over two hundred! We can't kill it, not alone!"

Asra grit her teeth, then shook her head and stopped fighting Storm's pull. She fired one last parting shot at the Ursa Major, only for it to roar a jet of Wind at them, popping the fireball and throwing the two runners thirty feet into the air. Asra stood up shakily, her PIP-Boy sounding a warning that she had less than half of her Aura remaining; she swallowed at the lump in her throat as she glanced over at Storm, who was still laying on the ground, his hands clasped around the top of his shaggy mess of purple hair as he groaned, his eyes clenched tightly shut.

"Not much choice you're giving me," Asra muttered darkly, cracking her neck sideways as she raised her Blaster Pistol back up, ready to fight to the death to defend her city.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"How many of these things are there?!" Rhonwen growled as she rammed the heel of her palm into a Beowolf's arm, her white Aura pulsing from her hand and causing the Grimm's arm to explode in a mass of black mist. She followed the strike with a snap kick to the Beowolf's chin, slamming its jaw shut and nearly ripping its head from its shoulders, only for its head to explode a moment later in a manner similar to its arm.

"Far too many," Haruki rasped, panting as he rammed the blade of a long, thin knife through a Beowolf's chest, slicing upwards through its throat. The Grimm fell on top of him, knocking him to the ground before dissolving in a hurry. His eyes scanned his surroundings, only for him to grimace as he saw another dozen Grimm, including a Beowolf Alpha, pouring from the alleys between the buildings at the group of four.

Summer raised her two weapons, one being a 10mm sub-machine gun she'd found on the body of a resident of Yang's Rest, and fired them in a unified chorus, dropping three of the Beowolves with bullets supercharged with her Aura before they could get close to her impromptu team. She was forced to duck a swipe from another Beowolf, but she raised her semi-automatic 9mm pistol and fired off three shots into its throat, causing the Grimm to fall backwards away from her.

"Heh," the Sheriff chuckled as he swiped the head off of a charging Beowolf with a single swing of his Adamantine sword. He smirked at the remaining Beowolves, paying close attention to the Alpha as the rest of its pack rallied behind it. "Girl's damn good," he muttered to himself, his smirk widening into a grin as he saw Summer not hesitate for a moment before turning her pilfered SMG on the Beowolves, felling two and nicking one of the Alpha's legs before they could scatter.

Summer's SMG clicked empty a moment later, and she grimaced as a pair of Beowolves lunged at her simultaneously; thinking quickly, she tossed the empty gun at one of them and started firing her pistol at the other. The first was distracted enough to screw up its lunge, landing next to Summer in a disheveled heap as the Grimm that she'd shot dissolved into black dust. Before Summer could turn her gun on the Beowolf next to her, however, Rhonwen slammed her knuckles into its chest, her Aura pulsing around her hand and causing the Grimm to explode into black mist.

"Thanks," Summer said, her voice almost impassive as she shot at the Beowolf that was trying to get behind Rhonwen. It's eyes glowed white, and a veil of ice appeared in front of it, just thick enough to deflect the bullet to one side. "Look out!" Summer exclaimed, grabbing Rhonwen's arm with her free hand and pulling the taller woman away from the Grimm's swipe, only for the two of them to wind up on the ground, their faces inches from each other.

It would have been a romantic moment, if not for the sounds of death and battle around them. Rhonwen planted her arms on the ground on either side of Summer and flipped herself upright, kicking the Ice-infused Beowolf in the face and sending a tremor of her Aura pulsing through it as she did. With Rhonwen no longer blocking her view, Summer raised her pistol and fired at the staggered Beowolf, streaks of red light cutting through its thick black fur and hard bone-like armor plating. The Grimm dissolved into black dust in seconds, leaving behind a fist-sized clump of white Dust.

"Since when do Grimm have Dust?" Rhonwen panted, helping Summer back to her feet as the two of them looked at the battle still raging around them; Ebeneezer took a strike from the Alpha on his massive shield, then lashed out with his sword lightning-quick and took off one of the hulking figure's claws as Haruki dodged away from one of the Grimm he was fighting, blood seeping through a pair of long slashes torn through his formerly pristine coat.

Summer raised her pistol at the Grimm closest to him and squeezed the trigger, only for her gun to click, empty. Summer scowled and grit her teeth as she reloaded in a hurry, letting Rhonwen rush to her fellow doctor's aid. Rhonwen slammed her fist into the lead Grimm's side, her Aura pulsing around her hand and sending the Beowolf flying into one of its companions; using what momentum she had left over, she spun on her heel and delivered a ferocious roundhouse to the leftover Beowolf, her Aura causing it to swell up and explode into black mist.

"On your feet, Doc," Rhonwen said, facing the remaining two Beowolves.

"Right," Haruki grunted, rising shakily to his feet. As he rose, he noticed the misshapen clump of white Dust that the augmented Grimm had dropped, and shouted, "Summer! Toss me the Dust!"

Summer responded immediately, scooping up the Dust and throwing it to Haruki in one clean motion. Once it was in the doctor's hands, it began to glow, white fog trailing from the crystal as he tapped into its power. He lifted his left hand, his right still firmly gripping the Dust crystal, and swept it at the pair of Beowolves as they pounced at him and Rhonwen. Ice leaped from his hand, jagged icicles bearing the strength of what little Aura he had left shooting like bullets into the Grimm and slicing clean through the beasts; the Beowolves dissolved into black dust before they could even hit the ground.

"Good work, everyone!" Ebeneezer exclaimed, giving the team a lazy grin as he walked back over to them, the Beowolf Alpha he'd been fighting dissolving slowly behind him. He was resting the bulk of his sword's weight on top of his pauldron once more, and his shield was held barely an inch off the ground; it was apparent to Haruki that the fight had taken more out of Ebeneezer than he was letting on. "Rhonwen, great job. Sorry to say this, girl, but I still don't know your name; you did fucking fantastic, though."

"Th-thank you," Summer stammered, ducking her head slightly in thanks as she panted; the adrenaline was already leaving her body, and she was hoping to get into another fight with the Grimm to bring it back.

"Haruki, we should get you to the diner," Ebeneezer continued. "Get your arm looked at and tend to any wounded."

"Right," Haruki panted out. "Not much Ah can do wit' my arm like this. Or drained of my Aura."

"Sheriff!" a familiar voice exclaimed, causing the group of four to look over at the approaching Ferrer and Volka. "Good to see you guys are alright!" Volka exclaimed, wrapping an arm each around Summer and Rhonwen and hugging them tightly, mashing their faces into her bosom almost by accident. "Things aren't usually like this, Summer," Volka continued, her voice much softer and more apologetic. "You've been wrapped in shitfest after shitfest since you got here. I'm sorry about that."

"Not your fault," Summer mumbled, blushing as she realized that her voice was being muffled by Volka's exposed cleavage.

Rhonwen let out a low noise that was not unlike a cat's purr, nuzzling her cheek against Volka's chest. "Treat a girl like this and we're bound to reward you," Rhonwen said, her voice silky and seductive as she locked her half-lidded eyes to Volka's.

Volka blinked at Rhonwen, then realized where she'd pulled the two girls' faces and let out a squeak, her face turning red as she let go of them. "S-sorry," Volka stammered, chuckling nervously as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Don't be," Rhonwen practically purred, smirking voraciously at the blonde. "It was a pleasure."

Volka shuddered as Ferrer let out a laugh, shaking his head. "Glad to see you're all okay," Ferrer said, grinning briefly at Volka. His expression turned serious in a hurry, however, as he added, "But we need to keep moving. Odds are Asra and Storm are in trouble. Doc, you think you can make it back to the diner on your own?"

Haruki grimaced, holding his injured arm tightly against his stomach as he stooped to retrieve his revolver, which he'd dropped early in the fighting. "Not if anything comes to get me," Haruki said gruffly, shaking his head. "Used damn near all my Aura in the fightin'."

"I can help with that," Rhonwen said, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath as she focused on her Semblance. A glyph appeared beneath Haruki, spinning clockwork beneath his feet as gold light appeared around him, filling him with energy and his Aura as Rhonwen accelerated time around him. She staggered as the glyph disappeared suddenly, wincing and taking deep breaths. "Should be fine now," Rhonwen panted, her legs crumpling beneath her.

"Rhonwen?" Summer asked, her brow creasing with worry as she knelt next to the now sitting Schnee. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Rhonwen panted, her eyes closed. "Just need some rest."

"Thank yah, Rhonwen," Haruki mumbled, marveling at the feeling of his Aura pulsing through his body when he'd been drained dry beforehand. He felt the long wounds that the Grimm had given him begin to close as his Aura flowed through him, though he still felt lightheaded from blood loss. "I owe yah one. Or three."

Rhonwen smiled at the man, showing a bit of teeth. "Just get somewhere safe," Rhonwen said, still panting. "We'll talk about that later."

"Damn it," Ferrer sighed, shaking his head. "I was hoping we'd be able to get moving to support Asra and Storm, but if you can't move-"

"I'll keep watch over her," Ebeneezer said, cutting off Ferrer's grumbling. "You lot should get to them before anything bad happens."

"Got it," Ferrer said, nodding gratefully at the sheriff before turning to face Summer. "Summer, it's up to you whether you come with us or help Sheriff Ebeneezer guard Rhonwen."

"I'll be fine in a few minutes," Rhonwen said, waving her hand dismissively. "But if Asra's in trouble, a few minutes might be too long."

Summer nodded at Rhonwen, then at Ferrer. "I'm with you," the white-cloaked woman said, checking her pistol to make sure it was still in working order.

"Thanks, Summer," Ferrer said gratefully. "I owe you one," he added as he turned to face north and started running, Summer and Volka following close behind him.

"Wait!" Haruki called after them, bringing them to a stop. "Here!" he shouted, tossing the chunk of Ice Dust to Ferrer, who caught it easily. "We found that in a Grimm. Be careful."

"Got it," Ferrer said with a nod before he started running again. "Thanks!"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Do it!" Asra shouted. A missile sailed down from the top of a nearby guard tower, impacting hard against the Ursa Major and exploding in a brilliant display of white-hot flame, sending the Grimm flying away from the town and back towards the forest. It drew itself back to its hind legs, its fur smoldering lightly as its eyes shone brightly. "Damn it, what's it take to kill this thing?" Asra muttered, chewing on her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Permission to use heavy ordinance, boss!" the tall woman wielding the rocket launcher called down to Asra. Her arms and legs were long and lean, but almost too much so, giving her an awkward, lanky appearance. Her green eyes were matched in color by her simple T-shirt, and her blue hair was similarly matched by the denim overalls that she wore. After spending so much time in the sun, her skin had turned a rather soft shade of tan that made her look older than her mere sixteen years.

"Granted, Trisha!" Asra yelled back up, making the tall woman grin. Trisha popped open the launcher in a smooth, one-handed motion, her other arm dipping down as she stooped to grab another missile from the tower she stood on. She reloaded without hurry, despite the steady charge of the Augmented Ursa.

Asra fired a pair of shots in front of the Ursa, tossing the creature back away from the town; this had the unintended side effect of throwing up a cloud of dirt and debris in front of the Grimm, obscuring Trisha's shot. "Where's my target?" Trisha complained, hefting the rocket launcher, now loaded with a powerful incendiary round, back over her shoulder.

Almost as if in answer, the Ursa Major roared, an spiraling explosion of Wind emanating from its body and driving the dirt cloud away from it. Trisha fired, the rocket powering through the miniature tornado and slamming right into the Grimm. The explosion shook the ground hard enough to knock Trisha off her feet atop the tower, causing her to fall onto her ass.

"Did I get it?" Trisha called down, peeking up over the safety railing of the cobbled together tower to look at the burning crater that used to have a Grimm in it.

"I think so," Asra called up, smiling at Trisha. "Good work."

"Thanks, boss!" Trisha exclaimed happily, snapping a brief salute before she laid the rocket launcher gently back down and picked up a comparatively weak rifle meant for hunting large game. "If you see any more like that one, send them my way! I've got a few more of those bad boys ready to take them down!"

"Sure thing, Trisha!" Asra said, snorting off a laugh as Trisha saluted again.

"Oh, shit," Storm said, his wide eyes still trailing white sparks as he gazed up into the sky, his face having gone ash white. "How... what... why?"

"What?" Asra asked, looking up into the sky. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, trembling slightly as she saw the enormous Nevermore screech as it flew towards the city. The bird-like Grimm was more than a hundred feet from the tips of its tail feathers to the sharp point of its beak, and its wings and eyes blazed a bright red as Flame surged around it. "Oh. Oh no. Trisha!"

"On it, boss!" Trisha shouted, hefting her rocket launcher back up and firing the incendiary round she'd loaded into it. The missile coated the sky in smoke and flame as it exploded against the Nevermore, but the Grimm flew through from the smoke completely unharmed, screeching in outrage. "Oh, fuck," Trisha mumbled, her eyes wide as she loaded another round into the rocket launcher.

"What is going on?!" Storm yelled, still staring wide-eyed at the Nevermore, white sparks still flowing from his eyes. "The Grimm have never done anything like this before! Why is this happening?!"

Asra wiped some of the blood from her mouth, but did not answer Storm. Another missile detonated against the Nevermore, but it had no more effect than the first. The Nevermore screeched again, sweeping its wings behind it and hovering in place for a moment before it flung them towards the guard tower where Trisha was standing; massive feathers, each more than ten feet long and blazing with black flames, fell from the Grimm's wings and cascaded into the ramshackle tower with enough force to put a hole in a mountain. The tower fell, but Trisha still had her Aura and a firm grim on her rocket launcher; she landed without much harm, forming a tripod with her feet and her free hand, only for a particularly large piece of debris from the tower to land on top of her, breaking her weapon in two and slamming her against the ground with a loud crack.

"Trisha!" Asra shouted, running over to the downed militiaman while keeping one eye on the Nevermore. Asra placed two fingers on Trisha's neck, feeling for a pulse, then grit her teeth in anger, standing back up and looking away from the dead woman. "Bastard," Asra hissed, her cat-like ears going flat against her head as she glared at the Nevermore. "Storm, how strong is it?"

"Nearly nine hundred," Storm let out in an angry whisper, closing his eyes and letting his Semblance wane. "Defense alone is three hundred."

"The moon's rising, Storm," Asra growled, walking towards giant Nevermore as it hovered in place, flames trailing from its beating wings. "Look at me: how strong am I?"

Storm opened his eyes, white sparks falling from them again as he looked at the descendant of Blake Belladonna despondently. His eyes widened, and he blinked several times in shock, but then he smiled grimly. "Three hundred and rising."

"Good," Asra said, smirking over her shoulder at Storm to bolster his confidence as she felt the moonlight filling her with strength, despite the sun still being nearly an hour away from setting. "Then let's protect this town."

"Yes, boss!" Storm exclaimed, changing the nearly empty magazine in his rifle for a fresh one.

Large, jagged chunks of ice, gleaming like polished steel, flew from behind the two of them, slamming into the Nevermore hard enough to stagger it. It let out a pained cry as it flapped its wings hard, getting some distance between itself and the source of the ice.

"Need a hand?" Ferrer asked, walking in front of Asra and Storm, the clump of Ice Dust clenched tightly in his left hand. He had reshaped the bracers he wore during his run over to them, moving most of the mass from the left to the right; the blades were gone, replaced with a single long metal spike jutting from the front of the right bracer, whereas the left had been formed into a small round shield.

"Ferrer," Asra sighed, smiling grimly at the white-eyed man. "Glad to see you. We could use your help."

"Yeah, we could see that," Volka said as she stepped into Asra's line of sight as well. "Good to see you're still alive and kicking, though."

Asra frowned, then shook her head. "Trisha isn't," Asra muttered, glancing over at the wreckage of the fallen tower where the woman's corpse still lay.

"Damn it," Volka growled, rolling her shoulders as she hefted her sword. "I liked that girl," she continued, glaring harshly at the bird-like Nevermore.

"Everyone ready?" Ferrer asked, raising the Dust in his left hand and pointing it at the Nevermore. Volka snapped her sword into its gun form, having picked up some ammunition for it before the Grimm attack from the merchants that were still in town. Asra opened her Blaster Pistol and swapped out the grey-flecked red dust it was loaded it for a green and yellow crystal, then pointed the weapon at the Nevermore. Storm drew a small metal vial from one of the pockets on his tactical vest, popped off the top with his thumb, and screwed it into a special compartment near the tip of his assault carbine's barrel, white Dust spilling from the tube due to his lack of practice at the maneuver.

Summer, standing behind the team of four, raised her pistol, glancing between it and the Nevermore nervously. 'This isn't going to work,' Summer thought to herself, swallowing at the lump that had formed in her throat as she looked at the massive Grimm still hovering in the sky.

They opened fire as one, sending a volley of steel, hard chunks of metallic Ice, and black bolts of Lightning at the Nevermore. Summer wasn't bothering to add much of her Aura to her pistol, knowing that even if she did it would only be for show; her pistol took Aura charging to punch through a Beowolf's hide, after all. Her shots glittered with faint red light, whereas Volka's blasts shone bright like the sun and Storm's rapid-fire assault left a steady stream of white light sailing up at the Nevermore.

While their individual efforts would have done little more than stagger the Grimm, their combined force was enough to send the Nevermore to the ground. The Grimm shrieked, waves of flame exploding from its body as it rose to its feet, talons digging into the ground and wings beating flames into the air. The Nevermore shrieked again, flame spilling from its colossal beak at the town and the five people trying to take it down.

"Oh, shit!" Ferrer shouted in panic, drawing on the Ice Dust in his hand to form a wall between them and the flames. The ice melted in a hurry before the torrent of flame, but it did its job in stopping the five of them from being roasted alive. Ferrer raised the Dust in his hand again, only for it to crumble away into nothingness as he tried to draw his Aura through it. "Fuck!"

The Nevermore drew in a thick, deep breath, preparing to spew flames at the group again, only for a single shot, pulsing with thick grey light, to slam into its cheek, knocking its head to face the forest as it breathed its Fire. Summer's gaze was instantly drawn to the bullet's source, a silver-haired man holding a high-power sniper rifle, its stock emblazoned with an emblem depicting a silver shield with a blue crystal on it. "Figured you lot could use some help," the man grunted, keeping his weapon trained on the bird-like Grimm as he joined the group.

"What are you doing here?" Volka asked, deliberately avoiding speaking in ways that would get her to reveal she'd forgotten his name.

"Di'int I just say?" the man asked, making Volka roll her eyes and mumble something under her breath. "Anyway, girl," the man continued, turning to face Summer.

"Me?" Summer asked, pointing a finger at herself as she frowned at the old man.

"Yeah, you," he said, offering the rifle to her. "You saved my life, as well as everyone in my caravan when you lot were rolling through town. Need to repay you, now's as good a time as any. Take this."

"Th-thank you," Summer stammered, holstering her pistol and accepting the rifle. She looked over it for what felt like an eternity to her, but seemed like an instant to everyone else, admiring the stock, the flared head, the scope, even the simple non-reflective black that it was painted. Grinning fiercely, she spun on her heel, falling to one knee as she faced the Nevermore anew, the rifle's stock held firmly against her shoulder.

"One shot, one kill," Summer muttered, her grin widening as she felt the familiar sensation of time slowing as she lined up her shot, sighting the Nevermore's mask through the scope. She flooded the rifle's barrel with as much of her Aura as she could, her eyes trailing silver sparks as she realized that she had never before felt time move so slowly before; her grin only widened as she realized that it must be her Semblance at work.

Before Summer could pull the trigger, a series of rotating glyphs, each bearing eight directional arrows, appeared in the air in front of her rifle's muzzle; her grin threatened to break her face as she realized that Rhonwen had regrouped with them and was lending what support she could. Summer fired, aiming directly for the gap in the bone-like armor mask directly above the Nevermore's left eye.

With time slowed as it was for her, Summer was able to marvel at the sight of the bullet leaving the rifle, identifying it as a .308 round almost instantly from her days at Vault 4's firing range. Red blossomed around the pointed tip of the round, forming a thick tapered pillar around a core of strong white, silver threads revolving slowly around the entire pillar of light.

Everyone around her barely had time to appreciate the round's beauty, as the cascade of bright light buried itself into the Nevermore's eye less than a second after it was fired; the Nevermore swelled like an inflating balloon before it exploded, the black mist of its death fading near-instantly beneath the lasting remnants of light the bullet had left behind.

"Wow," Volka said, her mouth hanging open as she marveled at the slowly fading radiance. "That was... beautiful."

"Thank you, sir," Summer said, turning her head to beam up at the merchant who'd given her the rifle. "I'll always treasure this."

The merchant laughed, a wary look flickering over his eyes momentarily as he eyed up the small woman who'd just killed a Dust-augmented Nevermore with a single shot. "Always nice to see a person who can appreciate a firearm," the man said joyfully, tilting his head to Summer. "And the name's Silver. Silver Bright."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

There were five fatalities during the Grimm attack, including the young Trisha, and more than a dozen people were wounded during the battle. Nonetheless, Yang's Rest felt the need to celebrate the young newcomers that had saved it: Summer Dream and Rhonwen Schnee. The two of them were startled by the reception they found when they walked back into town with the older folks, as the townspeople walked up to them and took turns hugging them, clasping their hands, thanking them, all manner of things, really. By the time they'd made it back to the town proper, they were exhausted from the attention, as well as their earlier escapades; Rhonwen even turned down a few propositions from the more amorous townsfolk, albeit with a promise to make it up to them later.

When the two made it back to the white-haired doctor's home, they sank down onto the soft, plushy couch in the entry room, letting out simultaneous sighs of relief that they could relax. "Well, that was a thing," Rhonwen said, chuckling tiredly as she stared up at the ceiling. "Your first full day out of the Vault has certainly been more exciting than mine was."

Summer merely nodded, her emotions muffled by a layer of stoicism now that she was so exhausted. "Are you alright, Rhonwen?" Summer asked, gazing tiredly at the woman. "You said you could only handle that Aura-recharge thing once, but you ended up doing it twice."

Rhonwen chuckled again, closing her eyes. "Yeah, I'm just tired," she mumbled, her voice only barely audible to Summer. "How about you?" Rhonwen asked, letting her head flop down sideways so that she could look at Summer. "Is your shoulder doing okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay," Summer said, rolling the shoulder that had taken a bullet only two days prior. "Aura really speeds up the healing, doesn't it."

"Mm-hm," Rhonwen grunted, leaning against Summer's shoulder, bare now that she wasn't wearing her cloak, and closing her eyes again. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" Summer asked, frowning as the taller woman sleepily rubbed her face against Summer's shoulder.

"Saving my life," Rhonwen said, smiling at Summer. "Remember, when I landed on top of you during that fight?" Summer blushed, but nodded all the same. "My Aura was so low at that point that the Beowolf probably would've killed me if it had hit me."

"Oh," Summer mumbled, ducking her head and looking away, her cheeks heating up again. "I must not have realized."

Rhonwen chuckled, then yawned cutely. "Is it fine if we share a bed tonight?" Rhonwen asked suddenly, making Summer stiffen in shock and embarrassment. "Not like that. I sleep better with someone with me. I promise, I won't do anything sexual tonight or tomorrow morning."

Summer glanced down at Rhonwen, her silver eyes meeting Rhonwen's blue. She smiled tiredly, blushing, then said, "Sure. Just for tonight, though."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Nyahaha! Well, that's chapter three for you! Plenty of action and fanservice that was fun as all Hell to write!

I felt that I was a bit too heavy-handed with the Asra/Summer stuff in Chapter 2, so I threw in a fuck-ton of stuff with the other characters as well. Speaking of Asra, I don't really think that she's living up to the "loner" moniker I gave her in Chapter 2... oh well! Not like it was essential!

I actually have quite a bit of wiggle room for where I go from here, but I think I know what I want to do. If you've got anything you want to see, feel free to leave a review or send me a PM! I'm more than open to suggestions, especially with character names. Ugh, I hate needing to name these characters. Could you tell that Trisha was a spur of the moment name that I didn't give half a damn about? How about Silver, or Lilac; do you even remember her?

Oh, and I've figured out what I want to do with Volka. I didn't really have anything to do with her when I started writing this story, or even when I started writing this chapter, but today, right here at the end of Chapter 3, I figured out exactly what I want to do with her. Well, the broad strokes, anyway; I think in settings, not in moments.

Well, that's my ending rant for today, I guess. See you next time, nyahaha!


	5. Chapter 4

Welcome back, nyahaha! Unless I get really sidetracked, this chapter's almost definitely gonna be a breather episode! Well, excluding a few bits here and there. I do despise filler, after all; if it doesn't advance the story or provide characterization and development, why would you put it in?

So, let's keep our talks happy today, nyahaha! How about we start with Dust?

Dust. It's the thing that fuels the world in RWBY. It powers cars and propels bullets. It can be used to evoke fire, lightning, ice, wind, just about anything elemental, really. But what is it, and how does it work?

Well, I can't speak for the show. But, in here, my little theories can expand indefinitely. In Fallout: Remnant, Dust is a consumable resource that occurs semi-naturally within the world of Remnant, much like how oil comes into existence in our own world. Every use of Dust breaks down its power, until it crumbles into nothingness and returns to the world.

If one was to use a source of Dust (let's say a single crystal) sparingly, it could theoretically be used over and over again without ever breaking down (this is how Asra uses Dust in her Blaster Pistol; she has more than a dozen different mixes of Dust she can load into her weapon, and she rarely ever needs to shoot, although that's been changing in recent days); alternatively, if the draw on the Dust is absolutely minimal, the Dust will continue to "recharge" itself while still being in use (allowing PIP-Boys to only need recharging when used excessively; they use so little power in sleep mode that the Dust cores they contain can actually grow larger, breaking the PIP-Boy if it isn't used often enough).

Once Dust is used up, it crumbles into a fine powder that cannot be contained; it becomes practically incorporeal and sinks down into the ground, returning to the soil from which it came. Certain experiments, done by the Schnee Dust Company under the command of Winter Schnee, have proven that Dust does move to a certain level before it merges back into Remnant; by drilling down three hundred meters and constructing a fairly wide elevator shaft lined with high-definition cameras between that room and the building above, they were able to see that Dust merges into the ground roughly one hundred meters below the surface.

While lacking a practical use, this knowledge of Dust's properties did go a long ways towards the people's understanding of the universe... until the war erased most of this information from the collective memory. Some of it might still exist somewhere, likely in the minds of those who were alive back then, but even then, this information isn't of terribly much use to the Wasteland. Once it's recovered from the radiation, sure, but now...

Oh well. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter.

Also, holy fuck. Have I seriously never described Ferrer's outfit? Oh well, I guess I'll just do it in this chapter.

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

 _"Well, well, what have we here?" the man asked, licking his lips as he grinned down at the woman strapped to the table beneath him. "Quite a bit of weight you've put on for a Wastelander, wouldn't you say?"_

 _The woman grit her teeth, blood showing on the otherwise white enamel. She spat it at him, glaring up at him with her red eyes. "Fuck off and die, bastard," the woman panted._

 _"Oh, now we can't have that, now can we?" the man asked, laughing as he let the woman's blood rest on his cheek; after all, his hands and forearms were absolutely covered in blood, both dry and wet. "I still need to see what makes you Wastelanders tick, you see. It's some very important information, after all."_

 _The man sighed as he reached one hand into the precise cut he'd made on the woman earlier, gently dragging part of the woman's intestines out between two of his fingers. She bit back a scream as she saw what he was doing, her eyes wide with fear and confusion._

 _"I know what you're thinking," the man said, still tugging on the thin cord in his hand as he ran his other through his greasy blue hair, stained brown in places with dried blood. "You aren't feeling that pain because I don't wish you to. Call it my Semblance, if you must."_

 _The man giggled, his dark brown eyes flashing to blue momentarily as he stared intently into the woman's red eyes. "Now, I don't want you thinking I'm some sort of monster," the man began, laying the cord of intestine down gently over the woman's knee. "I just want to find a few things out."_

 _"L-like what?" the woman asked, fear making her voice tight._

 _"Why, exactly, is the Human spirit so enduring? How is it that, despite constant war and strife, and two whole centuries of the planet being poisoned, are there still civilizations springing up?" the man asked, stepping away from the woman briefly and wheeling over a simple metal cart, its wheels covered with rust. He picked up a thin metal blade from the top of the cart, considered it, then put it back down. "And why is it that so few of you can give me an answer?"_

 _The woman let out a strangled sound as the man reached into her again and grasped another length of her intestines, pulling them from her body carefully and looping it several times around a metal post standing near the table she was strapped to._

 _"Shall we find out together?" the man asked, beaming at the woman beneath him as he raised a single crystal of yellow Dust in his bloody hand._

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

When Summer awoke, she was confused. She had not had any nightmares for once, or even dreamed at all, but that wasn't the reason for her confusion. She shifted slightly in the bed, exposing the white chemise patterned with red roses she wore as her movement tossed the light pink sheets from her. She blinked, growing even more confused by the second; she thought that her bedsheets were white.

So, it was with a feeling of complete and utter bafflement that she looked to the source of warmth wrapped around her chest, noticing the mess of tangled white hair nestled between her breasts. Summer blinked again, only to remember the events of the day before and wince, a tired smile dragging up the corners of her lips. The black-haired Faunus shifted again, careful not to lay on her tail or disturb Rhonwen's sleep as she tried to look at her PIP-Boy's clock; as the device lay on the end table behind her, this was a task easier said than done.

"Eight twenty-nine, huh?" Summer mumbled quietly, folding a hand over her mouth as she let out a quiet yawn. "Well, we need to get up at some point," Summer continued, tapping a finger against Rhonwen's head. "Hey, wake up," Summer said, only to blink in surprise as Rhonwen tilted her head up to look the older woman in the eye and pout.

"Ah, but I was enjoying this so much," Rhonwen whined, grinning at Summer's startled expression. "Don't worry, Summer; I kept my promise," Rhonwen added, giggling as she disentangled herself from the Faunus and sat up, stretching her back and revealing her white tank top as the sheets fell from her. "Nothing sexual happened between us while you were sleeping; believe it or not, I actually woke up like that. I just wanted to snuggle with you a bit longer."

"I'd almost call that sexual, but knowing you I guess nothing other than penetration would qualify," Summer droned monotonously, sitting up herself and strapping her PIP-Boy to her arm, carefully cinching the leather straps so that they didn't bind too tight.

"I wouldn't say you know me quite yet, Summer," Rhonwen said, standing up from the bed. Her light grey pajama bottoms hugged her hips and butt tightly, a fact that Summer did not fail to notice as the Schnee sauntered over to her wardrobe, swaying her hips almost without realizing it; Summer blushed as she realized that Rhonwen wasn't wearing any underwear beneath her pajamas, a fact that became readily apparent to the woman when Rhonwen bent at the waist to retrieve a pair of panties and a bra from a drawer in her wardrobe. "We only met a couple days ago, after all."

"And yet we've shared a bed," Summer said dryly, busying herself with running a quick diagnostic on her PIP-Boy to make sure it was still working fine; it was little more than a distraction, meant to take her mind off of the memories that her own statement had drummed up. "I've only done that with one other person, and she's dead now."

Rhonwen flinched, turning back to Summer with a pained expression in her eyes. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Rhonwen said softly, setting her clothes down on the bed as she wrapped Summer in a hug from behind, resting her head on the older woman's shoulder. "I didn't realize that you were... with someone in your Vault."

Summer blinked at Rhonwen, then shook her head. "No, not like that," Summer mumbled, blushing lightly. "She was my cousin. Layla Rose. She was my best friend. I guess that wasn't a hard thing to do, since she was my only friend."

"What?" Rhonwen asked, swallowing at the sudden lump that formed in her throat. "Why?"

"My parents died when I was too little to know them, so my uncle and his wife took me in," Summer began, abandoning the pretense of the PIP-Boy diagnostic and setting her hands on her bare knees, exposed due to the tight-fitting shorts-like underwear she wore. "They didn't like me, though. I was never mistreated, just... ignored, when they could. People in general tended to ignore me, not just them. It was only on the firing range and during my apprenticeship to the maintenance department that I truly felt noticed, since I was just good at those things." Summer's cheek twitched, and her features hardened into a scowl as her tail twitched irritably. "My teacher, Myst, did something terrible when the robots killed everyone. I only barely got there in time to stop him from raping Layla," Summer growled, drawing a gasp from Rhonwen. "He said that he wanted me more than her. I shot him, but the noise drew a few of those fucking things down on us. That's when I took a bullet and lost the only person I've ever loved."

"Oh, gods, Summer," Rhonwen whispered, hugging Summer tighter and burying her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, on the woman's shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry that happened."

"Layla was the one I was crying for when you and Volka found me," Summer said, her tone easing back into a controlled calm as she stared at her Rose model PIP-Boy. She closed her eyes, then added quietly, "No one else deserved it from me. Just her."

Rhonwen clenched her eyes tightly shut, unable to keep her tears from flowing. "I'm sorry," Rhonwen choked out between sobs, letting out a sad chuckle. "I guess I have to cry for you, now."

Summer closed her own eyes, leaning her head sideways so that it touched Rhonwen's. "I'm fine as long as I'm not thinking about it," Summer mumbled, too quietly for Rhonwen to hear. Raising her voice, she said, "I'll be fine, Rhonwen. Just give me some time."

"I can give you more than that," Rhonwen said firmly, her voice cracking as she fought back her tears to meet Summer's eyes, only to be disappointed that the Faunus's eyes were closed. She squeezed her arms even more tightly around Summer's middle, adding, "I can be your friend. Not in her place, but as someone who cares."

Summer opened her eyes and stared into Rhonwen's, alien silver meeting watery blue. Summer smiled gently at the white-haired woman, simply saying, "Thank you."

"Hold on a moment," Rhonwen said softly, smiling in return as she let go of Summer. "I have a song I want you to listen to," she added, picking up her own PIP-Boy and strapping it onto her arm.

"A song?" Summer asked, turning to face Rhonwen and hooking one of her legs up onto the bed to sit comfortably.

"Yeah," Rhonwen mumbled, blushing lightly. "I was a bit too into music back in my Vault, even though I can't carry a tune worth a damn. Luckily for me, one of my best friends was a musician, and gave me a whole bunch of songs when I was exiled," Rhonwen said softly, smiling at her PIP-Boy as she scrolled through its menus. "Ah, here it is. This song's got a bit of history behind it: it was originally written by one of my ancestor's musical rivals, but he died in a battle before he could get a chance to sing it himself. Weiss ended up being given the lyrics by one of his friends, but she couldn't sing them without changing them, due to some of the lyrics referencing him being a man," Rhonwen said with a giggle, only to blush again as Summer looked at her oddly. "So she got a friend of hers to sing it, though I forget who."

"You're blushing," Summer said in a deadpan, staring intently at Rhonwen's cheeks as the Schnee blushed again. "I don't believe it."

"Sh-shut up," Rhonwen mumbled quietly, ducking her head to hide her still growing blush as she set the music to play. "It's called Breathe Again. I think you'll enjoy it, or at least get something from it."

The song started off fairly unimpressive to Summer, a beat heavy on drums and bass that she'd felt like she'd heard a million times before. It wasn't until the lyrics started flowing that she froze, staring at Rhonwen's PIP-Boy with wide eyes.

 _Are you broken?_

 _A million pieces inside?_

 _Your heart wants to surrender, your mind is asking "Why?"_

 _Are you hopeless?!_

 _Do you believe you're too far gone?_

 _You fight off the surrender, and so you carry on!_

 _I know inside you're falling apart!_

 _I know exactly where you are!_

 _I see the hope, the light in your eyes!_

 _You've come too far to feel this way, so leave the pieces in the grave._

 _Starting over again-_

 _So you can breathe again!_

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The next half hour passed in a surreal blur to Summer as she listened to the songs that Rhonwen played for her, letting out an occasional laugh whenever Rhonwen talked herself out of breath when she was describing a song's history. Of course, it came to an end when the two of them realized how hungry they were getting; Rhonwen excused herself, grabbing a few articles of clothing and going off to take a shower, leaving Summer to browse through some of the older text entries on her PIP-Boy while she waited for her turn.

Summer was a bit distracted from her reading, however, as her mind worked over the lyrics of the songs she'd been made to listen to. Before she knew it, Rhonwen returned to her room, wearing only her underwear and having wrapped a towel around her hair; Summer left the room at that point, going to her room to pick up a few clothes of her own to wear once she got out of her shower.

Summer's shower was brief, as she'd never found them to be very enjoyable; less than three minutes after she'd stepped beneath the pleasantly warm stream of water, she stepped back out, having scrubbed her hair and skin clean. Summer took her time drying off, however, paying special attention to her tail; she absolutely hated the way it felt when it was wet. Once she was done, she put on her clothes, the one-sleeved tunic and the skirt that fell into ribbons below mid-thigh that Asra had bought for her just the day before; she wondered if she should do something in return, only to shake her head sigh, realizing that there wasn't much she could do.

Once the two of them were out the door, they walked at a leisurely pace to the Sunset Diner in a somewhat comfortable silence. The doors to the diner were open wide, one of them being completely off the hinges and bearing a set of long slash marks; Rhonwen shivered as she remembered the Grimm from the day before, taking a deep breath before she walked into the diner with Summer.

"I'm telling you, Ferrer, we really need that door fixed," Aina was saying, leaning her elbows against the table set into a plush booth as she spoke to the steel-haired man. "This diner's the only one in town, and it'd be one of the first stops for anyone traveling through. We don't want to take that hit to our income, do we?"

Ferrer let out a sigh, drinking down the last few swallows of his cup of peppermint tea before he looked at Aina, his white eyes seeming to sag into the dark bags beneath them. "Fine, I'll get a couple people working on it as soon as I've eaten," Ferrer said, setting his empty cup down with a loud thunk.

"Thank you, Ferrer," Aina said sweetly, standing up straight and looking over at the doors. "Oh, Rhonwen, Summer, come in!" the red-haired waitress exclaimed, waving at the empty booths and tables around them. "We're open, even if it doesn't really look like it. Have a seat and I'll be right with you!" she added, picking up Ferrer's empty cup and taking it with her.

"Mind sitting with me?" Ferrer asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair. "I've got a few things to talk to you about anyways."

"Sure," Rhonwen drawled, sitting down across from him in the booth and sliding over so that Summer could sit next to her. "What's up?"

Ferrer used one hand to draw open the long coat he wore, the leather it was made from having long ago been colored a thick, metallic grey. By doing so, he revealed the black shirt he wore, which fit tightly against the mayor's chiseled chest. From beneath his coat, he pulled out three burlap bags, each marked with a large black 50, and set them in front of Rhonwen before repeating the move and setting another three identical bags in front of Summer. "First, a thank you," Ferrer said, bowing his head at them briefly. "For everything you did to help us fight the Grimm yesterday."

"We don't need a reward for that," Rhonwen said slowly, frowning between Ferrer and the bags. "We just wanted to help."

"I know, but it doesn't mean you don't deserve something for what you did," Ferrer said, folding his hands in front of him. "Rhonwen, you are one of this town's doctors, that's true, but you weren't expected to aid in the town's defense, especially not within your first week of being here. Summer, you've been here only a couple days at this point, and we haven't given you a job or even a place to stay, but you still fought to defend our town and the people living here," Ferrer continued, settling back in his booth with a smile. "Volka would call me a villain for thinking this, but if I don't reward you I would be telling people that we don't appreciate help freely given. And we do appreciate it. So, please, take the money. It's the least I could do for you."

"Well, when you put it that way, how could I refuse?" Rhonwen asked dryly, rolling her eyes as she grabbed her three bags of bottle caps and put them into one of the inner pockets of her coat. Summer followed suit a moment later, slipping the three bags into one of the pouches she wore on her hips. "Thank you. I mean that."

"Oh, and Summer," Ferrer added, pulling a small card from his pocket. To Summer's eyes, it looked like it had once been a standard playing card, but had been bleached white and had a myriad of things written on it. "If you're ever looking for a place to settle down for the long term, we'd love to have you. If one of the militiamen around here ever stops you and asks who you are, just show them this; they'll recognize it, even if they don't recognize you or anyone you're with."

"Thank you," Summer said politely, taking the card from him and slipping it into another of her pouches.

"I still have more to say, I'm afraid," Ferrer said with a grimace. "Ebeneezer reminded me that we have laws here preventing anyone not in the militia from carrying high-power firearms openly. I'm afraid you won't be allowed to carry that rifle of yours around town unless there's an emergency or you join the militia."

"Can't you make an exception?" Summer asked, smiling awkwardly at Ferrer.

"I wish, but I didn't make that law," Ferrer sighed, shaking his head. "It's one of the many shitty things about being formally included in the NCR."

"The NCR?" Rhonwen repeated, frowning.

"The Novis Civilis Republic," Ferrer said, grimacing again as Aina brought him a fresh cup of tea and set a pair of glasses of strawberry lemonade in front of Rhonwen and Summer.

Aina frowned, biting her lower lip as she looked between Ferrer and the two young women sitting across from him. "I've got the feeling that this is gonna be one of those kinds of discussions," Aina said, sighing. "Mind if I take your orders first?"

"I'll have my usual," Ferrer said, cupping his hands around his mug of tea and staring into the liquid.

"No breakfast?" Aina asked, raising an eyebrow as Ferrer shook his head and sipped at his tea.

"What we had yesterday was pretty good," Summer mumbled. "The stack of hotcakes with sausage, I think?"

"And hash browns," Rhonwen added, smiling at Aina in a very sensual manner. "Unless you can think of something _sweeter_ that I might enjoy," Rhonwen purred as Aina blushed, the waitress's Semblance, telepathy, not doing her any favors.

"I-I'll be back soon with your orders," Aina stammered out loudly, turning on her heel and nearly running away from the table, leaving Rhonwen giggling under her breath.

"That will never get old," Rhonwen said with a smile, sighing contentedly and sinking back into the plush cushions of the booth. "Even if I can't convince her to have a threesome with me and her husband, I think I'm gonna keep teasing her like that."

"Why?" Summer asked timidly, blushing.

"At the very least, it's funny. At the very most, it'll get me laid. Somewhere in between improves her sex life, but not mine," Rhonwen explained happily, taking a sip from her lemonade and letting out a pleased groan. "No matter what, something good happens."

"Do you want to learn about the NCR or not?" Ferrer asked, sighing as he set his cup of tea back down.

"Yes, please," Summer said, smiling politely at Ferrer.

"Alright," Ferrer said, sighing once more. "The Novis Civilis Republic is a new age kingdom, much like the ones that fought in the Great War. It is presided over by ten senators and three kings; senators get elected by the nobility once every five years, and are limited to five terms of five years, while the kings inherit their positions."

"Just kings, or are there queens, too?" Rhonwen asked, frowning.

"There haven't been any queens yet, but the kingdom's still only a few decades old; we've only seen one king replaced by his son so far. The kings hold similar power to the senators, although their votes count twice when it comes to it; the kings are also considered the final arbiters of justice in the kingdom, and they are expected to oversee any matter that isn't already governed by existing laws in order to form a new law around that issue. So far, this has included things like people being executed for owning a pet rabbit," Ferrer spat, his cheek twitching.

"Wh-what?" Summer stammered out, staring wide-eyed at Ferrer. "Why?"

"Better question: why are you part of a kingdom that does that?" Rhonwen asked, scowling at Ferrer.

"Not by choice," Ferrer said, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw. "I want nothing more than getting Yang's Rest out from under the NCR, not least of which because we need to keep sending Asra running hundreds of miles east with forty pounds of Dust and seeds every fucking month. Last year, there was a month that had so much cloud coverage on her route that she had to go back out for the next month's delivery almost as soon as she got back here. But, this is the only way we have to pay the taxes they demand of us; apparently, we're too small a settlement for them to bother sending someone to us.

"The NCR has a rather active military," Ferrer continued, abruptly changing the subject. "Their troops tend to wear brown armor and carry easily identifiable weaponry, usually broadswords and 5.56 caliber rifles, so you should be able to recognize them if you see them. They don't tend to allow deviation from their standards, either, so there shouldn't be any confusion on whether or not the person you're looking at belongs to the NCR if they're a soldier. Their Rangers, though... they're the special operatives of the NCR. The Rangers don't always follow a pattern in their attire; some wear armor similar to the troopers, while others wear heavier gear and gas masks, though most have a duster loaded with chainmail and made of a material that's nearly bulletproof even without Aura enhancement. They're tough as all Hell, too; I've heard rumors that they're trained as the Huntsmen of old, and that even one of them can take down a dozen Giant Nevermores without breaking a sweat."

"Given the shit we went through yesterday, that's probably just exaggeration," Rhonwen huffed, folding her arms over her chest. "Is there anything else you can tell us? Something more useful?"

"Well, what did you want to know?" Ferrer asked dryly. "It's kind of a broad topic, after all."

"Are there any other kingdoms?" Summer asked, diverting the topic from the NCR and drawing Ferrer's attention to her. "I mean, most of the things I was taught in the Vault made it seem like there weren't going to be any kingdoms after the last war, even if there were still people living on the surface."

"Well," Ferrer said, his face suddenly going pale, "there's the Legion of Light, but I don't know if I'd call them a kingdom."

"Tell us about them," Rhonwen said firmly.

Ferrer licked his lips, then raised his mug of tea to his lips and drank, putting off his answer for as long as he could. "Most of what I can say about them is just parroting rumors, probably just NCR propaganda, at that," Ferrer finally said, setting his mug down gently. "But none of it's good."

Ferrer closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath to calm himself down before he began telling the two young women about the Legion. "First off, they claim to follow the teachings of Ruby Rose," Ferrer said, opening his eyes to gauge Summer's reaction. "That the light shall always overcome the dark, that it _must_ always overcome the dark. That sacrifice not freely given is not worth taking. From what I've heard, they have a rather liberal definition of 'freely'. The Legion's army rolls over the Wasteland like a storm, absorbing every territory they touch and taking as slaves everyone who doesn't want to help their cause."

Summer stared at Ferrer wide-eyed, her lips parted as she took in the information he was giving her. "That's not all," Ferrer added just as Summer was about to speak, cutting her off. "They think that Aura is something that must be earned, not given to just any person who could use it. Their rank and file soldiers don't use Aura unless they had it before they were conscripted."

"That's..." Summer began, only to shake her head. "I can't... why?!" she finally exclaimed, gripping the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles began to turn white. "Why would they do such awful things?!"

Ferrer sighed and shrugged, shaking his head. "Everything I've heard is just a rumor," Ferrer said. "I've never spoken to a Legionnaire. Hell, I've never even seen one. But a few of the people here in town have, and they say that the people in the Legion can be downright pleasant if you talk to them one-on-one. Asra took some time during one of her deliveries to observe a small group of them, too, and she didn't see anything that made them seem bad to her."

"Is there anyone else out there, or is that it?" Rhonwen asked dryly, narrowing her eyes at Ferrer.

"Well, I assume I don't have to tell you about the Brotherhood of Dust," Ferrer said, drumming his fingers against the table. "Oh, there's also the Winter Fang, but they don't really do all that much. They're a Faunus only group that lives up in the ruins of Beacon, and keeps Humans from traveling through it to keep them from turning into Ghouls. I don't really know all that much about them, though; Asra's likely to know more than me, but probably not a lot more."

"What are Ghouls?" Summer asked, making Ferrer pause for a moment before he chuckled.

"Sorry," Ferrer said, shaking his head again and smiling. "I keep forgetting that you wouldn't know these things. Ghouls are basically the Human version of Ferals, only instead of turning into animals they become walking, rotting corpses stronger and tougher than some of the more common Grimm. Thankfully, the Winter Fang's interference has significantly reduced the number of them roaming around, so we don't really consider Ghouls to be that big of a threat anymore; if you're traveling around, you might see an isolated pack, but there shouldn't be more than a half dozen of them in any one place, and you shouldn't have to worry about them at all, Summer, since they only attack Humans, much like how Ferals only attack Faunus. Unless they've soaked in a bunch of radiation, that is; then, anyone's fair game to them."

"Well, that'll end up in my nightmares," Rhonwen said with a shiver, hugging her arms around herself tightly. "I think we're done talking about that for now. I don't think I can handle knowing anything else about all that right now."

"Then I guess it's time to move on to my last topic," Ferrer said, taking a sip of his tea, which had gone cold while he was talking. "Haruki told me that you have the day off today, Rhonwen. Thankfully, only three people were injured yesterday, including Haruki, and he says that he can take care of them himself so you can rest."

"What?" Rhonwen asked, feeling slighted and letting her elbows slip down to rest on the table. "Why? Does he think I'm not good enough to help them?" Rhonwen growled, clenching her fists tightly.

"He said that you fought like a Huntress yesterday, and that you wore yourself out using your Semblance to help him and Summer regain their Aura," Ferrer said, shaking his head. "He said that you deserved a day off, even if it was to his detriment."

Rhonwen frowned, grinding her teeth together unhappily. "I might still drop in on him to make sure his arm's doing well," Rhonwen scoffed, looking away from Ferrer. "If he needs stitches, he shouldn't have to give them to himself."

Ferrer snorted off a laugh, smiling as he shook his head. "I thought you might say that."

"Here you are!" Aina chirped happily as she returned, bearing a platter with their orders on it. She set the two plates she carried in front of Rhonwen and Summer, each loaded down with wide, thin pancakes, a trio of thick sausages about as long as one of her fingers, and a mass of potato hash pan-fried to a pleasant golden brown. When it came time to give Ferrer his food, however, she placed a canteen and a metal box in front of him, small holes in the layer of paper on top of it letting out steam and the aroma of spices and well-cooked meat. "There's steelware in the box, too, Ferrer. I hope you get a chance to eat it while it's still warm this time."

Ferrer let out a chuckle, pulling a small burlap bag from beneath his coat and setting it on the table, letting the black 20 on it face Aina. "Thanks, Aina," Ferrer said, sliding out from the booth and rising to his feet in one smooth motion. "I'll bring this back when I can."

"Does it really cost that much to take the food with you?" Rhonwen asked, raising an eyebrow as she glanced between the bag of caps and the box Ferrer was picking up.

"No. I'm paying for your meals, too, and giving Aina a small tip," Ferrer explained as he walked away, slinging the canteen around his neck and waving the women goodbye with the back of his hand. "I'll be seeing you."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Once Rhonwen and Summer had finished eating, they'd decided to explore a bit and take in a few of the sights that Yang's Rest had to offer. As a start, they'd gone to see the statue of the woman herself, but had gotten lost while walking the oddly maze-like streets.

"I feel like we've passed that building before," Rhonwen mumbled to herself as the two of them walked past a tattered wooden building, painted a shade of red that had long since faded to a very light pink. Much of the wood had been replaced at some point, the paint on it noticeably fresher despite being a similar color, and clumps of metal held together sections that would likely have crumbled under their own weight. "We've passed that building before, right?" Rhonwen asked, gesturing at the pink house.

"I think so," Summer said, stopping for a moment to look at it more closely. She let out a sigh, then glanced around, noticing that there didn't seem to be anyone around them. "Where is everyone?"

"Probably attending a funeral," Rhonwen said softly, letting out a sigh of her own. "People died yesterday, after all. It would be inhumane not to give them their proper respects."

"I guess," Summer mumbled, careful to keep her voice quiet enough that Rhonwen couldn't hear her.

"And everyone who wouldn't be at the funerals would be working on something, most likely. Either their normal jobs or on restoration efforts," Rhonwen continued, her voice trailing off as the two of them started walking again.

They wandered in silence, eventually finding their way to the eastern edge of Yang's Rest where Volka was sitting cross-legged on the ground, the dark bags beneath her eyes making her frown seem malicious as she impatiently watched the caravan of merchants she was hired to protect strap their Squeeps to the special harnesses of their wagons. The large, muscular bovids responded to the attention and the increased weight with only mild annoyance, their squeaky bleats drawing a smile across Rhonwen's lips.

"Hey, Volka," Rhonwen greeted the blonde, echoed by Summer a moment later. "What are those?" she asked, gesturing to the bovids as Volka stood up.

"Squeeps," Volka grunted, blinking some of the sleepiness out of her eyes as she smiled lazily at Rhonwen and Summer. "Basically just sheep mutated by radiation. They tend to be damn good labor for things like this because they pack on muscle so quickly and can eat just about any plant matter they find."

"And the name?" Rhonwen asked, raising an eyebrow. One of the creatures let out another squeaky bleat, making Rhonwen giggle as she looked at the Squeep.

"That's why," Volka said, letting her smile grow a bit more.

"You seem tired," Summer commented, drawing a nod from the blonde. "Bad dreams?"

"Yeah," Volka said with a sigh, tiredly rubbing at her face with one hand. "Not sure what brought it on, though."

"What about?" Summer asked.

"Some old man torturing some poor woman," Volka mumbled with a shudder, hugging one of her arms around herself before she turned to face Rhonwen. "He kinda looked like you, come to think of it, although his hair was blue and his eyes were brown."

Rhonwen blinked, surprised, then slowly said, "That almost sounds like my dad."

"I hope not," Volka said, grimacing. "He was pulling out the woman's intestines an inch at a time, and when I woke up he was lifting a crystal of Lightning Dust."

Rhonwen shuddered. "Okay, that doesn't sound much like my dad," Rhonwen said, her tone joking even though her smile was grim.

"Hey, Volka!" one of the merchants called over, drawing the blonde's attention. "We're nearly set to go here!"

"Got it!" Volka yelled back, walking over to them. "I'll be back in a week or so," she added in a much quieter voice, turning around to walk backwards so she could face the two younger women and wave goodbye. "I guess I'll see you then?"

"I'll probably still be here," Rhonwen said, smiling vibrantly as she waved to Volka.

Summer shrugged, then waved goodbye as well, making Volka falter and frown for a moment. "I might not be here by then," Summer sighed, frowning as well, only to suddenly smile at Volka. "But I'll make a point of visiting you somewhere if I'm not. Okay?"

Volka stopped, stunned, then grinned, running back over to Summer and embracing her in a deep hug. "Thank you, Summer," Volka mumbled in Summer's ear. "Asra told me about you, you know. That you're a descendant of Ruby. That makes us cousins, you know?"

Summer chuckled, then hugged Volka back somewhat awkwardly, not used to the attention. "I know," Summer said, trying to hide the light blush that lit on her cheeks from Rhonwen. "Say, how about we register each other on our PIP-Boys? We'd be able to stay in touch more easily."

"That's a great idea, Summer!" Volka exclaimed, releasing Summer from the hug and swiping her finger across her PIP-Boy's touch screen. "What's your ID?"

"R1," Summer said, smiling at the expression that came over Volka's face. "I know. Not many Rose models around," Summer explained, her smile fading somewhat as she remembered everything that she had learned about the SPECIAL model PIP-Boys just yesterday. She slid out the keyboard from her PIP-Boy, which Volka also seemed startled by, and chuckled. "Your ID?"

"Uh, I think it's N84, but let me double check," Volka mumbled, blushing as she scrolled through her PIP-Boy's manual. "Oh, it's N83. Close enough, I guess."

Summer rolled her eyes as she input the ID tag into her PIP-Boy, following it up by adding Volka's name as an identifier. "Since we're doing this, you want to share, too, Rhonwen?" Summer asked, turning to the white-haired woman.

"Sure," Rhonwen said with a shrug, waking her PIP-Boy from its sleep mode and inputting their PIP-Boy codes in a flash of fingers tapping on the touch screen. "Mine's G156. Keep in touch, okay?"

"Volka! Let's go!" one of the merchants, Silver, called over, his voice raspy and thick.

"I will, I promise. See you two later!" Volka exclaimed happily, beaming at them again before running over to the merchants, a spring in her step.

"So," Rhonwen drawled, frowning at Summer, "you okay?"

Summer gave Rhonwen a perplexed look, then asked, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"This morning, everything you told me about what happened in your Vault," Rhonwen said, her frown turning sad. "Your cousin Layla, remember?"

Summer shrugged, looking back at Volka. "They aren't really that similar. Layla was a few years younger than me, and she was more like my sister than my cousin, anyways," Summer said, smiling as Volka caught a glance of her and grinned, waving at Summer again as she started walking east with the merchants. "I can handle having a distantly-related cousin like her."

Rhonwen blinked in surprise, then frowned again. She remained silent as the two of them turned back into the town and began wandering again, still looking for the statue of Yang Xiao Long.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Finally!" Rhonwen exclaimed happily, beads of sweat forming on her brow as she gazed triumphantly at the statue of Yang Xiao Long. Summer panted, wiping away some of the sweat that was pouring down her face as she stared tiredly at the statue, idly noting that it was free of rust.

The statue depicted Yang in her prime, showing the Huntress as her sister had remembered her. Her left arm, her real arm, had been muscular, but not overly so; even in the metal of the statue, it was clear to Summer that Yang's body had maintained a surprising softness despite her incredible strength. Her other arm, a cybernetic, was the only part of the statue that wasn't made of the gold alloy, instead being made of a rust-proof titanium alloy that was actually quite similar to what Summer assumed cybernetics had been made from before the Great War. Yang's hair was absurdly long, the untamed locks reaching nearly down to her knees, and her face was set in a victorious grin, bringing the scar across her left cheek into greater prominence.

"Wow," Summer whispered, drawing her breath back under control. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Rhonwen said, her voice breathless, but not from the exertion. "Yang was a beautiful woman, wasn't she?"

"That's not quite what I meant, but yeah, that too," Summer mumbled, rolling her eyes as she wiped still more sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay?" Rhonwen asked, frowning as she looked at the shorter woman.

"Not used to all that walking," Summer said with a shrug. "I should be fine."

"Look, there's a few benches near the statue," Rhonwen said, pointing. "We'll sit down for a minute, okay?"

"Thanks," Summer said, beginning to trudge towards the closest bench that Rhonwen had pointed out. "How are you still okay?" Summer asked, tiredly noticing that Rhonwen wasn't as affected by the walk anywhere near as much as she was.

"Hm?" Rhonwen asked, only to giggle as she got what Summer meant. "Oh, you mean how I'm not like you right now?" Rhonwen asked, laughter evident behind her voice. "Sex marathons make for great exercise. I'm not used to all this walking, but I've got endurance to spare."

"Oh," Summer said simply, blushing as she sat down on the bench and lounged back against it, throwing her cloak's hood over her head with one hand to keep her face from getting too hot in the bright noon sunlight.

"I'll be back in a minute," Rhonwen said cheerily, walking away from where Summer was resting. "Just gonna get us some water bottles from that store over there."

"Okay," Summer mumbled tiredly, nodding at Rhonwen. "Thanks."

Summer didn't get much chance to rest; Rhonwen was barely gone for a minute before a pair of children in their teens rushed over to the black-haired Faunus, startling her from her light dozing with the noise they made.

"Hi, Summer!" the first one exclaimed, his brown hair in a bowl cut.

"Remember us?" the second one asked, almost identical to the boy she stood next to, barring the fact that her hair was formed into a long braid.

"Ajax and Demeter, right?" Summer asked, fighting a sudden urge to yawn as the twins nodded their heads vigorously. "Good to see you two again."

"Summer, we heard what you did yesterday," Ajax said, smiling brightly as his eyes, the color of soil, shined mischievously.

"You killed that giant Nevermore all by yourself, didn't you?" Demeter asked, her smile mirroring her brother's, although her eyes shone with awe instead of mischief.

"No," Summer said, letting out a chuckle as she saw Rhonwen approaching behind the two teenagers, a pair of large, clear, plastic water bottles held in her hands. "I had a bit of help."

"Just a bit, huh?" Rhonwen asked jokingly, making the kids' heads whip around to face her, their expressions turning frightened the moment they saw her. "Ajax, Demeter. I'm glad you two made it through yesterday in one piece," Rhonwen said, her smile as soothing as her voice as she beamed at the twins.

"R-Rhonwen!" Ajax exclaimed, swallowing nervously at the lump in his throat as his sister did the same. "Wh-what are you doing here?!"

"Oh, Summer and I are doing some exploring through town," Rhonwen said, handing Summer one of the water bottles and sitting next to the Faunus. "We got lost for a little bit, and Summer got a bit tired and hot, so I went to get some water for her."

"Thanks," Summer gasped out between large swallows of her drink; before long, she'd finished half of the bottle of water, and screwed the plastic cap back on with a contented sigh. "So, what brings you two here?" Summer asked, turning her attention back to the twins. "I'd have thought you'd be busy working right now."

"The mayor gave us the day off!" Demeter exclaimed happily, pumping a fist into the air dramatically.

"We did such a good job fighting fires in the forest yesterday that Asra wanted us to have a break!" Ajax exclaimed happily, mirroring his sister's pose. "So, she talked to the mayor for us!"

Summer laughed softly, shaking her head and smiling. "So, why're you with her?" Demeter asked suddenly, making Summer cock her head to one side questioningly. "I thought you and Asra were together?"

Summer blushed and shook her head vigorously. "I-I only met Asra a co-couple days ago," Summer mumbled, turning her head away from the twins. "And we haven't re-really spent al-all that much time together."

"It'd be weird if they were together," Rhonwen said, rolling her eyes as she wrapped an arm around Summer's shoulders, grinning wickedly at the two kids. "After all, she's been living with me ever since she got here!"

The twins' mouths fell open as Summer tried and failed to stammer out a response, her blush growing to eclipse her face and dipping down her neck before she finally stopped trying to speak, looking bashfully at her knees. Rhonwen giggled, pulling the Faunus into a tight hug that made her start sputtering again. "But we're not together, either," Rhonwen clarified, making Summer let out a sigh of relief. "I've got a couple extra rooms in that house Ferrer gave me when I decided to settle here, so I decided to let her stay with me."

The twins let out mirrored sighs of relief, smiling at the two women. "Thank the gods," Ajax said, his smile turning into a smirk. "I don't know what we would've done if our hero married our worst enemy!"

"Eh?!" Rhonwen exclaimed, taken aback by the youth's statement. "What does that mean?!"

"We'll never forgive you for what you did to us, Rhonwen!" Demeter shouted, turning on her heel and running from her, her brother close behind her.

"What was that all about?" Rhonwen muttered to herself, frowning at their retreating forms.

"Maybe because you forced those kids to parade around in their underwear," Summer said, rolling her eyes. When Rhonwen looked at her questioningly, she added, "Asra told me after we ran into them yesterday."

"Oh, that's not what I'm trying to figure out," Rhonwen said, cocking her head to one side. "You called them kids. They're fourteen."

"Yeah, which means they're kids," Summer said, only for Rhonwen to shake her head. "That's how it was in my Vault. You're a kid until you turn eighteen."

"Oh," Rhonwen grunted, looking back at where the twins had run off to with a frown. "In my Vault, you were an adult as soon as you hit puberty. At that point, you got an apprenticeship to one of the labor divisions that could use you well."

Summer shuddered. "So, you had eleven-year-olds treated as full adults?"

"Not really _full_ adults," Rhonwen clarified with a shrug. "You still weren't allowed to drink alcohol until you finished your apprenticeship, and you weren't forced to move into quarters separate from your parents' until you were sixteen. But, other than that, yeah, they were treated as adults. That's what they were."

Summer shook her head. "Your Vault was weird."

"No, it was just different," Rhonwen said, lounging back on the bench the two were still sitting on and taking a drink from her own bottle of water. "I wonder why our Vaults were so different in something as simple as that, though."

Summer frowned, then woke her PIP-Boy from its sleep mode, scrolling to the audio file she'd restored mere days ago. "I think I can guess," Summer said, beginning to play the log for Rhonwen.

 _"Hello, Overseer of Vault 4. This is Jaune Arc, the founder and CCO of Vault-TEC... Do I really have to say that each time?... Alright, alright, I'll keep talking. Okay, so, um... Vault 4 is one of our Vaults. They're supposed to make sure that as many people as possible survive if the worst things come to pass, but... we made a lot of mistakes getting here. We meaning all of everyone, not Vault-TEC, I mean. So, um, your Vault is one of the many experiment, uh, Vaults we've made. Sorry; I've said 'Vault' a lot today, and it's kinda starting to get hard to say. Anyways, getting back on track, your Vault is designed to accommodate up to two thousand people, as well as the robotic security we're giving you. They're all wirelessly... um, wired... into the central mainframe, so, um, they'll be easy for you to shut down with your access code, if you need to. Your Vault is going to be rigged with a few warning signs in case the 'bots get corrupted, or a virus, or something, including any attempts to take control of them by an outside source. If you ever need to shut them down, you can do it at your terminal by entering the code 'RUBY'. I know, I know, but it wasn't my decision to have the password be your mother's name. Oh, and, um... this probably isn't the best time to mention this, but your mother left you something, Summer. One of our experimental PIP-Boy models. A Rose Model. If you ever want it, just come to my office or ask me to send it to you, okay?"_

"Wow," Rhonwen said, unable to say anything else as she stared at Summer's PIP-Boy. "You have a file that old? One that predates your PIP-Boy, even?"

"Yeah," Summer answered, nodding her head. "Summer – Ruby's daughter, I mean, – must have transferred everything from her original PIP-Boy over to this one."

"So, you think that the Vaults were all some sort of experiment?" Rhonwen asked, switching back to their topic of conversation.

"Yeah," Summer said. "I mean, I think that's part of it. I think that Jaune Arc wanted to see what he could do to stop war from ever happening again. He sounded like he knew Summer Rose personally, and Ruby, too."

"It seemed like he was stressed, and tired," Rhonwen commented, drawing a nod from Summer. "If he was friends with Ruby, then odds are he was depressed about what happened to her."

"That's what I'm thinking," Summer said, switching her PIP-Boy back into sleep mode. "If he really wanted to stop war from happening ever again, then he'd want to see if it was the civilization at the time that caused the Great War. He'd want to experiment with new ways of thinking to see if changing something would keep war of that scale from happening ever again."

"That sounds reasonable, although a bit egotistical," Rhonwen mumbled, frowning up at the cloudy sky. "Huh, looks like it might rain soon."

"Then we should keep moving, shouldn't we?" Summer asked, standing back up and wincing as her legs told her just how sore they were. "You've still got a couple things you want to show me, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Rhonwen exclaimed happily, practically bouncing off of the bench and landing on her feet. "We won't get lost this time, either, I promise. I know how to get there from here," Rhonwen said as she began to walk southeast, leading Summer towards the medical clinic where she worked.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Okay, your arm seems to be doing fine," Rhonwen said, peering carefully at Haruki's wounded arm. The two of them, along with Summer and the sheriff, Ebeneezer, were inside the medical clinic, Rhonwen sitting on a stool next to the older doctor while he reviewed the paperwork he'd been doing. "I'd still be more comfortable if you'd let me give you stitches instead of gluing your cuts closed, but it doesn't seem to be doing bad."

"Grade A surgical glue, girlie," Haruki mumbled gruffly, picking up a pen and scratching out a number on one of the papers in front of him only to write a slightly smaller number next to it. "Yah didn't need tah do this, Rhonwen. Ah gave yah the day off for a reason."

"Yes, but you shouldn't neglect your own health to let me rest," Rhonwen scolded the man, narrowing her eyes at him. "If you lose your arm because you didn't bother getting me to look at it, then this town would be down a doctor that it can't afford to lose."

Ebeneezer chuckled at the two of them from his seat near the door, his shield resting against the wall beside him and his sword leaning against it. "Good to see the old Doc getting someone giving him that talk for once," Ebeneezer commented, keeping his voice low so only Summer, who was sitting on the chair next to him, could hear.

Summer smiled, shaking her head. "You see him talking like that often?" she asked quietly, realizing that Ebeneezer probably wanted to talk to her.

"I can't even tell you how many times he's given that talk to me," Ebeneezer said, chuckling again. "I get in more fights than most people around here, since a lot of people travel through here and not all of them end up being friendly. I typically need to pay Haruki a visit a couple times a month, just for injuries I take while working, so we ended up becoming pretty good friends."

"That so?" Summer asked, drawing a nod from Ebeneezer.

"Mm-hm," Ebeneezer grunted, smiling over at Summer. "We've got a lot in common, actually, Summer; I met the Doc in pretty much the same way that you met Rhonwen."

"You mean, you came from a Vault?" Summer asked, frowning. "Then why aren't you wearing a PIP-Boy?"

"Gave it to him," Ebeneezer said, nodding at Haruki. "My Vault, Vault 16, got hit with a pretty bad civil war seventeen years ago; I was fifteen at the time. I was part of the group that didn't want to deal with the war, but both of the other sides wanted to get rid of us; they actually ended up working together in an attempt to kill all of us," Ebeneezer practically growled, scowling at the floor in front of him. "I got lucky in a fight against someone and took that sword off her, then led as many of my people as I could out of the Vault, but... The six hundred of us had gotten whittled down to just a bit over twenty while we were running."

Summer bowed her head respectfully, mumbling, "I'm sorry."

"Haruki happened to be walking by as part of a caravan, so they took us in as refugees. Haruki treated our wounded, and I gave him my PIP-Boy in thanks. We stuck together after that, and ended up in Yang's Rest seven years ago," Ebeneezer said, smiling again as he shook his head. "Most of my people are still alive, too, in part thanks to him, and we're all living here. If you see someone walking around with a PIP-Boy and you don't know them, odds are they're one of mine; if you need help, tell them I owe you a favor and they'll probably help you. Most of them would jump at the chance to get me to owe them one."

Summer nodded at Ebeneezer, smiling at him awkwardly. "Thank you, but I don't-"

"Don't bother saying you don't think you deserve it, or that you didn't do anything anyone else wouldn't've done," Ebeneezer said, cutting her off. "What you did was amazing. I've never seen anyone take down a Nevermore with one shot, much less a Dust-augmented Nevermore or one anywhere near that large."

"O-okay," Summer stammered, blushing and looking away from him. "Tha-thank you, I g-guess."

Ebeneezer snorted off a laugh. "Well, looks like they're done," Ebeneezer noted, looking back over at Rhonwen and Haruki. Rhonwen was standing up, having just finished wrapping a long cloth bandage around his arm. "Before you two take off, I've got something I want to say. I know you've got some revenge you want to take; believe me, I know what that feels like. But you might want to think about what you're gonna do after that, and, well, since Yang's Rest needs a good mechanic around and we do have that Dust-powered four-wheeler that Asra brought in a few days ago..."

Summer's head snapped upright and she stared at the sheriff, her eyes wide and filled with curiosity. "You have a four-wheeler?" Summer asked, her voice breathy with excitement. "Where?! Can I see it?!"

Ebeneezer chuckled, grinning at Summer. "I might be willing to tell you, if you applied for citizenship with us. It's in pretty bad shape, and I don't think I could let anyone other than an engineer of the town work on it. It would go against my duties as the town sheriff."

Summer chuckled under her breath, smirking at Ebeneezer in return. "You are a shrewd businessman, Sheriff," Summer said, her eyes glimmering with glee. "How do I apply for citizenship?"

"Consider it done," Ebeneezer said, standing up and extending his hand to Summer, which she shook eagerly. "I'll get the paperwork settled; call it my thanks for accepting the job."

"Ooh, did you just get Summer to stay here?" Rhonwen asked, walking over to the pair, getting Ebeneezer to grin at her.

"Yep. You're looking at the new town mechanic," Ebeneezer said, gesturing to the now blushing Summer.

"That's so great!" Rhonwen exclaimed, wrapping Summer in a hug as the older woman stood up. "You'll still be living with me, though, right? I'm getting used to having you around, and I'd hate to have my house to myself again. It was so big, and lonely..." Rhonwen trailed off, closing her eyes to ward off the tears forming in them.

Summer smiled softly, hugging Rhonwen in return. "I can stay there," Summer mumbled, blushing as she saw Ebeneezer raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye. "I wouldn't be happy living on my own either."

"Thank you, Summer," Rhonwen said softly, smiling again as she hugged Summer more tightly.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

" _That's_ what made you want to stay?" Rhonwen asked, staring at the four-wheeler with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Really?"

At Summer's urging and with Ebeneezer's directions, the two of them had found their way to the rundown garage that had been turned into a storage facility at some point after the founding of Yang's Rest. Inside of the former auto-shop, they had seen a number of large crates, each full to bursting with supplies that wouldn't rot or decay too quickly, or at all, in some cases, as well as the damaged four-wheeler that Asra had carted a handful of freed slaves in just a few days before. Its windshield was cracked in several places, though the odd mesh of thick steel bars that it sported meant that only a few panes would need replacing, instead of one giant block of glass; that is, if the steel bars around the cracked glass hadn't been caved in slightly. Upon further inspection, Summer determined that the axle was bent, although she felt that she could fix it with a hammer, if need be, that the tires were nearly flat, one sporting a large nail through a thin spot in the thick rubber, and that the engine would need a fresh load of coolant before she felt that it would be safe to run.

"It's a fixer-upper," Summer said gleefully, dragging herself from beneath the car and dusting herself off with a smile. "But I like to fix things. Plus, I've never been this close to an actual automobile before. It's exciting, isn't it?" Summer asked, smiling over at Rhonwen, a dollop of thick black grease shining on her nose.

Rhonwen rolled her eyes, smirking playfully at the shorter woman. "Oh, honey, you should know _exactly_ what I find _exciting_ by now," Rhonwen purred, making Summer blush and turn away from her.

"Oh, hey," a man's startled voice came from nearby, drawing their attention to them. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone else was here right now," he said, raising the clipboard he held submissively while running his other hand through his mess of black hair.

"No, it's alright," Rhonwen said, raising a hand in greeting. "Hi, I don't think we've met before. I'm Rhonwen Schnee, and this is Summer Dream." Rhonwen frowned, then added, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Oh!" the man exclaimed, tapping his fingers against his clipboard. "I guess we did technically meet yesterday, but we didn't really introduce ourselves. I was with Asra during the whole thing yesterday. The name's Storm Bright," he said, smiling at the two women. "It's nice to meet you formally, this time."

" _With_ Asra, huh?" Rhonwen asked, smirking at the man.

Storm snorted off a laugh, smiling as he said, "I wish. With a body like hers, mm! But, no, she's only interested in women," Storm said, letting out a sigh. "It's one of the many things we have in common."

Rhonwen's eyes sparkled with sudden interest, and she bent forward slightly, bringing her small breasts into greater prominence by letting her coat fall further away from her blouse. "Well, then we have something in common too," Rhonwen purred, idly licking her lips as she looked Storm up and down, fluttering her eyelashes at him seductively. "We're both looking for _something_ , aren't we?"

Storm laughed, his eyes glittering with a mixture of amusement and desire. "Maybe later," he said, raising his clipboard again. "I have to go through all of the storage facilities today. Inventory. You know how it is."

"Ah, that's a shame," Rhonwen said, pouting at Storm. "I hope you'll pay me a visit tonight, then."

"U-um," Summer stammered, blushing furiously as she glanced between the two of them. "Yo-you said you're n-name is Storm B-Bright, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Storm said, turning to face Summer. "Nice to meet you, Summer. I'm guessing you don't have the same offer to make as her, which is a shame; you've got a rocking body too, you know."

Summer's blush only deepened, and Rhonwen laughed, wrapping Summer in a hug and rubbing her cheek against the top of the older woman's head. "Yeah, but she's just so shy when it comes to these things," Rhonwen explained. "But I think she has something else to say."

"Y-yeah," Summer said. "The man who g-gave me that rifle yesterday said that his name was Silver Bright. Any relation between you and him?"

Storm grimaced, turning to look away from Summer. "Yeah. He's my father," Storm said, leaning his back against one of the cement pillars in the workshop.

Summer blinked, surprised, then frowned. "I'm guessing something bad happened," Summer said softly. "You don't need to tell us if you don't want to."

"Nah, I might as well," Storm said, letting out a sigh as he turned his gaze to the ceiling of the former automotive workshop. "My father wanted me to be a caravaneer, like he was, and I was damn good at convincing people to sell low and buy high, just like him. But, my mother... she was a caravan guard who hating all the wandering around they did. She was always trying to convince him to settle down somewhere, start a store or something so they didn't have to keep traveling all the time. She's the one who taught me to use a gun and a sword; she said it'd be useful to know how to defend myself. She died when I was seventeen, when a bunch of raiders attacked the caravan. She and I were the only guards, and we managed to put them down, but... we didn't have medic on hand. She bled out and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing my father could do about it."

"Oh," Summer said, unable to form any other response. Rhonwen squeezed her tighter, trying to keep from crying at the story.

"I left Silver's caravan after that," Storm continued, shaking his head as he looked back down at the ground. "Found myself guarding other caravans just to make enough money to eat. Then I met Volka. She saw how unhappy I was with what I was doing, and I told her my story; she said that if I hated traveling around so much that I should settle down somewhere, and I asked where." Storm chuckled. "She suggested Yang's Rest, and here I am. I met everyone here, spoke to Ebeneezer at length defending the town from Grimm and bandits and the like, and played a part in starting up the militia. I have people here who I can call friends, because I just happened to meet Volka one day. I'm glad I did."

Rhonwen smiled at Storm, nodding her head. "I know how that feels," Rhonwen said, shaking her head as Storm glanced over at her. "When I was exiled from Vault 22, I didn't know anything about the Wasteland, and all I had was my PIP-Boy and the backpack of supplies that I'd managed to pack the night before I left. I didn't know where to go, or if there was even anywhere I could go. For all I knew, there was nothing and no one outside of the Vaults. Then I met Volka and the caravan she'd been traveling with." Rhonwen giggled, shaking her head again. "I must have looked quite the sight. I'd been out of the Vault for two days at that point, and had run out of water the night before. She helped me, and brought me here. I met Ferrer, and then Haruki, and helped him treat someone who came in with a broken arm. From that point, I was the second doctor of Yang's Rest," Rhonwen said, pride holding her head high.

Storm snorted off a laugh. "Yeah, Volka's got a habit of bringing in strays who end up being helpful," Storm said, looking pointedly at Summer. "I'm guessing she brought you here too?"

Rhonwen frowned, looking down at the woman she still held. "Yeah," Summer said, leaving it at that as she turned back to the car, shrugging Rhonwen's arms off of her as she knelt beside it and started examining the metal. Once she was thoroughly engrossed in her work, she began to speak, her mind distracted from the emotions that she would otherwise feel. "My Vault... we had robots that did a lot of things for us, but for the most part they were our security. Someone hacked into the mainframe and turned them against us. I'm the only one who walked out alive."

Storm stood frozen, his face stuck in a look of shock. "Volka and Rhonwen found me the next day," Summer continued, pulling a wrench out of her pocket and pressing it firmly against a dent that seemed to have been made from inside the four-wheeler. "They were with a few people from the Brotherhood of Dust, but they took me in, helped me when I needed it. Rhonwen's letting me stay with her, Asra started teaching me about how to survive in the wilderness, and Volka and Ferrer have been nothing but nice to me." Summer smiled as the metal in front of her let out an audible groan, the dent mostly corrected by her unrelenting wrench. "It's not something I'm used to," she added, moving on to fix another dent.

Storm licked his suddenly dry lips, then looked at Rhonwen, who nodded sadly. "That's..." Storm began, only to shake his head. "That's fucked up. Do you know who did it? Hacked the robots, set them against your people?"

Summer shook her head as she pressed her wrench against the dent. "No," she growled, gritting her teeth. "But I will find them eventually."

"Count me in," Storm said firmly, making the wolf Faunus look at him. "I know what it's like to want revenge. Plugging the fucker who killed my mother was one of the most bittersweet moments of my life, but I'm glad I did it. If you need help getting to whoever killed your people, send me a message," Storm continued, tapping the Nikos model PIP-Boy on his arm with his clipboard. "My ID's N091. Feel free to talk to me at any time."

Summer swallowed at the lump that had formed in her throat, nodding her head gratefully. "Thank you. My ID is R1," Summer said, a small smile forming on her lips as she saw Storm's reaction.

"Wait, seriously?" Storm asked, looking at her PIP-Boy.

"There were only four Rose models made," Summer explained, turning her attention back to the dent she was trying to press out of the car. "They didn't need a longer code."

"Oh," Storm said simply, shrugging off his earlier shock and smiling. "Well, that's easy enough to remember. What about you, Rhonwen?"

"G156," Rhonwen said, smirking at Storm as he input their codes into his PIP-Boy. "I'm hoping to hear from you tonight, pretty boy," Rhonwen added, practically purring as she stepped towards him, looking up into his eyes as she let her hips sway seductively.

"And I'm hoping I'll have good news for you," Storm shot back, practically growling as he grinned at the white-haired woman. "Inventory stuff might take me all night, though. Rain check?"

"What?" Rhonwen asked, tilting her head to the side.

Storm blinked at her, then shook his head and chuckled. "It's an old saying, near as I can tell. Means something along the lines of 'be ready to cancel if there's bad weather'," Storm explained. "I'll be in touch either way, but I might not get a chance to come over tonight. So, if I can't, we can plan for another night?"

Rhonwen smirked at him, letting out a throaty chuckle that sent a shiver up Storm's spine. "Mm, I'll be waiting," Rhonwen purred, tracing her fingers over the man's tactical vest.

Summer blushed as she tried to focus on the task she'd created for herself, doing her best to ignore the people behind her.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The first droplets of rain were beginning to fall, and Summer was miserable; her cloak was clinging to her skin, and the rainwater was soaking through it onto her tail. She let out a piteous whine and sped up, forcing Rhonwen to accelerate as well to keep up with her.

"Summer?" Rhonwen asked, nearly jogging to keep up with the older woman's pace. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like being wet," Summer said, ducking beneath the awning in front of a store and taking off her cloak in a hurry, bundling it up in her arms as she looked at her tail. "Damn it," she sighed, staring, defeated, at the damp black fur, which no longer seemed to glow red in the fading daylight. "I'll have to dry it off when we get back."

"Summer!" came the booming voice from inside the shop, startling the Faunus into jumping nearly three feet in the air. She whirled around once she was back on her feet and stared, wide-eyed, at Tailor. "Rhonwen! What brings you two to my store today?"

"Oh, we just ducked out from beneath the rain," Rhonwen said sheepishly, entering the open door to the tailor's shop and practically dragging Summer along with her. "Summer apparently doesn't like getting her tail wet."

"I hate water being on me in general," Summer mumbled, blushing as she avoided making eye contact with Tailor. A thought struck her, and she looked up at the absurdly muscular man, her blush fading as she asked, "Could you waterproof my cloak?"

Tailor laughed, a deep, booming belly laugh that seemed to rock the store. "Of course I can, Summer!" Tailor exclaimed happily, only to suddenly frown. "But the materials are expensive, and it'll take several days to actually set in. You'd be better off with me making you a new cloak so you can still use you one you have in the meantime."

"How much?" Summer asked, making Tailor scratch his chin.

"Hmm," he drawled, one eye closed as he stared at Summer. "Eighty caps," he finally said, breaking out into a wide grin. "I figure this town owes you enough that I should only charge you for the materials."

Summer blinked at the man, surprised, then frowned, shaking her head. "Everyone we've spoken to today has said something similar," Summer mumbled under her breath. "Is it really that big of a deal?"

"Summer, you shot down a Nevermore bigger than any I've ever seen," Tailor said in a deadpan. "I saw everyone else try to knock it out of the sky, I saw the fucking thing breathe fire that melted Ice conjured up by Ferrer, and I saw you put it down in a single shot with a rifle that you had never fired before. With some help, I might add," he added, nodding appreciatively at Rhonwen. "Let me give you the discount. Just this once."

"Okay," Summer said meekly, sounding defeated. "Just this once." She pulled out a pair of the 50 cap bags that Ferrer had given her that morning, handed one to Tailor, then paused, looking at the other one before sighing and opening it, beginning to fish out caps.

"Oh, I can make change for that," Tailor said, lifting a 20 cap bag from behind one of the tables in his store. Summer gave him a grateful smile, then tugged on the drawstrings around the bag's mouth until it was closed and exchanged it for the smaller bag that Tailor held. "Okay, weather permitting, I can get you that waterproofed cloak in three days. If it rains much any of those days, add another one onto it."

"Okay," Summer said, nodding her head. "Thanks, Tailor."

"Now then," Tailor said, turning to Rhonwen. "I have your order in as well, Rhonwen."

"Thank you, Tailor," Rhonwen said with a smile, pulling a bag of 20 caps from inside of her jacket and tossing it to the man.

Tailor sighed as he handed a thin white box to Rhonwen, shaking his head mournfully. "Are you sure you don't want me to put some tassels on it?" Tailor asked, gesturing at Summer's skirt for emphasis. "They bind less than pleats."

Rhonwen smiled, but shook her head. "No, I prefer my clothes to actually cover my body, thank you," Rhonwen said, half-sarcastic. "No offense."

Tailor let out another sigh. "Well, if you two don't have any more business here," he said, reaching into a box beneath one of the tables in his store, "here, Summer." Tailor pulled an umbrella out from the box, giving it to the confused young Faunus. "Just give that back to me when you come for your cloak, okay?"

"Um, okay," Summer said slowly, looking at the metal and thin pink plastic of the object in her hands. "What is it?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer stared up at the sky, marveling at the sight of water pouring down from the dark clouds above her and Rhonwen as the two of them walked back to Rhonwen's house. 'No,' Summer forcibly reminded herself. 'Our house.'

"Neat, isn't it?" Rhonwen asked, raising the borrowed umbrella a little higher so she could look to. "It really is cool how the world maintains itself like this, even in what we call a wasteland."

"Yeah," Summer said, not really paying attention to Rhonwen. She continued to stare up into the sky, only turning her gaze from the clouds when she noticed a figure in black jump down from the rooftops. She blinked in surprise as the figure walked towards them, only to break into a wide smile as she saw Asra's face beneath the hood of the coat she wore. "Hi, Asra!" Summer called to the cat-eared Faunus, waving at her.

"Hi, Summer, Rhonwen," Asra said, smiling in return as she walked over to them and started keeping pace with them. "Where'd you get the umbrella?"

"Tailor let us borrow it while he's making Summer a waterproof cloak," Rhonwen explained. She smiled, shaking her head, then added, "This is just a regular parade of everyone we've met so far, isn't it?"

Summer giggled quietly, nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah."

"Sounds like you two had a rather busy day,"Asra said, nodding her head approvingly. "I heard the good news about Summer deciding to stay here, by the way. Ferrer was downright giddy when he told me; something about finally having someone who could fix all the broken shit around here."

Summer blushed, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly. "D-did he?" she mumbled, drawing a giggle from Rhonwen and a chuckle from Asra.

"Yep," Asra said. "Say, if the sky's clear tomorrow night, would you like to go hunting with me?"

"Hunting?" Summer asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Mm-hm," Asra grunted, nodding her head. "When I'm in town, I like to go searching around nearby for any wild game I can catch and drag back. If the moon's out and I can feel it, I can drag back a bear in each hand."

"If the moon's out?" Summer parroted back, getting Asra to cock her own head to one side.

"Didn't I tell you about my Semblance?" Asra asked, getting Summer to shake her head. "Huh, I thought I did. I draw strength and energy from moonlight, the more of it the better. It's why I make such a good courier; I can run in a dead sprint faster than some of the old Huntsmen of legend, and I can do it for hours at a time if the moon's shining down on me."

"Wow," Rhonwen exclaimed, looking over Asra's body appreciatively. "That explains why you've got such a good figure, huh?"

Asra blushed, half-glaring at Rhonwen for a moment before turning her head to look away. "I-I guess," Asra mumbled. "Anyway, Summer, would you like to come with me tomorrow night? Hunting is something you should learn how to do anyway, if you're still planning on getting revenge, but I'd really enjoy the company."

Summer smiled, nodding her head. "Sure," she said. "It sounds like fun."

"Great!" Asra exclaimed, blushing as she realized just how excited she sounded. "Um, I mean, great. I'll swing by tomorrow around eight to get you, okay?"

"That sounds fine," Summer said. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Aw, how cute!" Rhonwen exclaimed happily, drawing Summer into a one-armed hug, her other still holding up the umbrella. "You two are going on a date!"

"R-Rhonwen!" Asra practically shouted, her blush growing astronomically. She opened her mouth, hoping to explain herself, only to shut it, turn on her heel, and jump, flinging herself onto the nearby rooftop before running away.

Summer stared at her in awe as she left, watching the woman run away with mixed feelings. "Wow," Summer finally said, deciding on what she felt was the safest topic. "She sure can jump."

Rhonwen snorted off a laugh, hugging Summer more tightly as the two of them continued walking. "Come on," she said. "I need to teach you how to act on a date. Though, I've never heard of a date quite like this one before," Rhonwen trailed off, muttering under her breath. "Would make-up be warranted? Wait, is there even make-up out here?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer let out a deep sigh as she sat on her bed, the earbuds nestled in her ears letting her listen to one of the handful of radio stations she'd found on her PIP-Boy. She had changed out of her normal attire and into her sleepwear, the same rose-patterned chemise and boyshorts that she'd woken up in, before she'd settled down to read through the old message logs that were on her PIP-Boy; she'd started listening to the radio when she remembered that Rhonwen might have someone coming over for the night, and realized that the house's wooden walls were very thin compared to the Vault's thick metal ones.

"In other news, disaster was quite nearly at hand for a small town just south of Gambler's Forest," the man on the radio was saying, his voice holding tones that Summer recognized from the DJ back in her Vault; she guessed that it was just a voice that they had found entertaining to use. "Nearly one hundred Grimm attacked the town known as Yang's Rest just yesterday."

At the mention of her new home, Summer stiffened, already blushing because she knew where the MC was going with that.

"Of course, Yang's Rest was more than prepared to fight them off," the MC said proudly, confusing Summer for a moment. "It's a town full of Aura-capable civilians, and even those passing through were willing to lend a hand. But, rumor has it that some of the Grimm had been enhanced by Dust somehow; if not for the actions of a pair of brave women, who only recently came to reside in Yang's Rest, a Fire-augmented Nevermore could have become quite the danger not just to the town, but to everyone for hundreds of miles around. So, if you're ever there, make sure you give a quick thank you to Rhonwen Schnee and Summer Dream before you visit the statue of Yang Xiao Long. If they're not too busy saving people, that is."

Summer let out a low groan, curling up into a ball on her bed and letting the earbuds pop out of her ears. "Why?" Summer asked quietly, her head held between her legs. "Why is this such a big deal?"

An alert sounded on her PIP-Boy, habit forcing her to look at it and read the message that had popped up on its screen. She blinked at it, surprised that she'd gotten an invite to a group chat from Volka, before she accepted the invite, popping her earbuds back in just as the MC was winding down from his speech and began letting music play again, an old favorite among the Pre-War kingdoms.

 _It was just fine, we lived in peace, looked to a happy ending!_

Volka: Hey, girls!

W00: What's this all about, Volka?

Volka: I thought that since, you know

Volka: we're all descendants of one of the most famous team's of Huntresses in history

Volka: that we should get to know each other.

Volka: SO

Volka: Girl's night?

W00: Oh, is that who you invited?

W00: I thought you were trying to get me to double date with you again.

W00: Count me in.

W00: For the chat, I mean.

W00: Don't try to set me up again.

Volka: Aw, but that was so much fun!

Summer chuckled at their dialog, then slid out the keyboard that her PIP-Boy contained and started typing as well.

Self: Hey.

Self: It's Summer, by the way.

Self: We didn't trade ID's earlier, Asra.

W00: Oh, hi.

W00: So, what's up?

Self: Not much.

Self: Rhonwen might not be joining us, though.

Self: She invited a boy over.

Rhonwen: Nah, Storm didn't show.

Rhonwen: Thanks for caring, though!

Self: Wait

Self: Then what were all those sounds coming from your room earlier?

Rhonwen: Well...

W00: Don't, Rhonwen.

Rhonwen: You see, when a woman doesn't have a man to take care of her needs...

Rhonwen: Ah, why not?

Self: Too late.

Self: Thanks for trying, Asra.

W00: Sorry I couldn't stop her in time.

Volka: LOL, you guys are so funny!

Volka: So, what should we talk about?

Self: You didn't have some idea when you invited us?

W00: That's Volka for you.

Rhonwen: Well, Summer and Asra are going hunting tomorrow night... ;)

Volka: wat

Volka: What?

Volka: Asra, what?

W00: That's

W00: I mean

W00: Damn it, Rhonwen.

Volka: You've never taken me out hunting. :(

Rhonwen: I think they're in love. ;)

Volka: ASRA ;_; WHY

Volka: DOES OUR LOVE MEAN NOTHING TO YOU ;_;

Asra: What?

Self: I leave for a minute to name Asra's ID,

Self: and this is what you do?

Volka: Lol, so that's why you went quiet.

Volka: Sorry, Summer.

Volka: Just pulling your leg.

Asra: *sigh*

Rhonwen: Well, isn't this quaint?

Rhonwen: I wonder if this is what our ancestors did at night...

Asra: I don't think so

Asra: They all seemed pretty different from us

Asra: In the stories, I mean

Volka: Wasn't Weiss uptight?

Volka: I wonder how she'd react to meeting you, Rhonwen...

Rhonwen: Well...

Rhonwen: I mean, if you work the math...

Rhonwen: Weiss and I would only share less than 1% of our DNA, so...

Rhonwen: Might not be incest at this point...

Self: Ew.

Asra: Seconded.

Volka: Lol

Volka: I bet they never talked about this sort of thing!

Self: I sure hope not.

Self: That's just nasty, Rhonwen.

Asra: Seconded.

Rhonwen: Aw

Rhonwen: So cute

Rhonwen: I just love when new couples can bond because of me

Rhonwen: Granted, it's usually more physical than this, but...

Self: Please stop

Volka: Okay, okay, I'll stop.

Volka: Rhonwen?

Rhonwen: *sigh*

Rhonwen: Fine

Volka: WAIT

Volka: HOLD ON

Volka: DO YOU MEAN THAT SUMMER AND I ARE MORE CLOSELY RELATED

Self: Volka why

Asra: stop, please

Volka: THAN YOU AND WEISS, RHONWEN?

Rhonwen: What?

Rhonwen: Weren't Ruby and Yang just half-sisters?

Asra: Huh?

Self: What are you talking about, Volka?

Volka: Weren't Ruby's and Yang's kids made by the same dad?

Self: Never heard that before.

Asra: Me neither.

Rhonwen: Seconded.

Volka: Lol

Volka: Just me?

Asra: Ah

Asra: Maybe you learned it before

Asra: You know

Volka: Oh...

Volka: Maybe?

Self: Before what?

Rhonwen: You're an amnesiac, Volka?

Volka: Yeah...

Volka: Don;'t remember much before I was thirteen.

Volka: Just a bit here and there

Volka: Don't know why I'd remember that, though

Rhonwen: Partial Amnesia

Rhonwen: Not every memory will make sense

Rhonwen: Not every memory has any real meaning, either

Rhonwen: Most are just random

Volka: Oh

Volka: Thanks, Rhonwen

Volka: Didn't know that

Rhonwen: Any time!

Rhonwen: Just send me a message if you want to learn something like this.

Self: Sorry to hear that, Volka.

Volka: Aw, it's okay

Volka: I've been living with it for so long that I stopped really noticing

Volka: Most people don't remember their childhoods very well after a whiel

Volka: while*

Asra: so...

Asra: Should we switch topics?

Self: Sure

Self: What'd you have in mind?

Rhonwen: Ooh, we could talk about the local wildlife

Self: That sounds like it could be fun.

Rhonwen: 'cause they're going hunting

Volka: Lol

Asra: ...

Self: Seconded

Rhonwen: Me, Volka, or Asra?

Self: Asra.

Asra: ...

Self: So...

Volka: LOL

Volka: sorry

Volka: laughed so hard I woke someone up

Rhonwen: lol

Self: Is this what this is going to be?

Volka: I mean, we could actually talk about the wildlife

Volka: Might be useful even if you two don't end up going hunting

Volka: You should pay attention too, Rhonwen

Summer let out a sigh of relief, closing her eyes briefly as the topic was finally turning to something she could enjoy.

Volka: So

Volka: What should we start with, Asra?

Asra: Well

Asra: Bears would be good, I guess

Asra: They're huge, lumbering creatures

Volka: Bear fur sells pretty well

Asra: Can't get too close to them, though

Volka: Meat's pretty good, too

Asra: They're damn strong, and have claws, though not as big as a beowolf's

Asra: They typically look like Ursas, but without the masks

Volka: Watch out for Yao Guai, though

Volka: Bears mutated by radiation

Volka: Fur on them sucks

Volka: But the meat's still good

Asra: Yao Guai are stronger and faster, too

Asra: They're more like Ursas in those regards

Asra: Same strategies to engage: hard and fast, don't let them hit you

Self: Okay.

Asra: But when you're hunting, you'll be wanting to stay away from everything anyway

Asra: Snipe from afar, don't take more than one shot to kill your target.

Self: Sounds like I'd be good at that.

Asra: Yep

Asra: It's part of why I invited you.

Rhonwen: Part, huh?

Asra has left the chat room.

Volka: Well, that was fun.

Rhonwen: Did I go too far?

Self: A little.

Volka: Don't worry

Volka: Just apologize when you next see her

Volka: She'll forgive you

Volka: Most likely

Rhonwen: I'll do that

Rhonwen: I hope she does

Rhonwen: I actually like her

Rhonwen: Don't worry, Summer, not in that way

Self: ...

Volka: Ooh, is there a love triangle brewing?

Rhonwen: Only if you want to love my triangle, girl.

Self: ...

Volka: lol, no thanks

Volka: Prefer pillars

Self: ...

You have left the chat room.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Well, I enjoyed writing that last part. I hope you guys liked it as much as I did, because I'm probably gonna do it some more in the future.

Also, holy fucking shit I can't regulate this worth shit. Fuck it. I'm gonna write until I burn out, then rest my mind for a day or two before I go right back to it. Seriously, I wrote this in six days; I posted chapter 3 on April 5, and finished writing this on Monday, April 11 (that's 2016 for those of you in the future). That's like NaNoWriMo speed right there, and I definitely won't be able to keep it up, especially since I'm also going to be applying this new philosophy to the book that I'm writing (sorry for talking about that again; I promise I won't make a habit of it).

Nyahaha! So ends another day. Next time we'll get to some action! Asra'll take Summer hunting, and Volka might run into some trouble too! Don't worry, though; Rhonwen's story will keep going forward too!

Speaking of Rhonwen: her love of music, and music in general, as it pertains to this story. While every song will have an in-universe counterpart that may or may not be somewhat different from their versions in our world, I will make sure to put names of the songs and the artist(s) that created them into the bottom AN. The format will be as follows:

Song Title (Artist) [Relevance] {In story origin (when not explained in the story)}

Easy to remember, neh? Well, here's the songs that were mentioned or used in this chapter, nyahaha!

Breathe Again (Spoken) [Felt it was an appropriate send-off to one of my OCs, Phoenix Redfield.]

Die (Jeff and Casey Williams) [Come on, now; one of the better (my opinion) songs of Volume 2, talking all about how things started off great only to jump into the darkness? How could I not usher in my story like that, when it promises to be darker than anything Rooster Teeth would ever willingly put into RWBY?] {Weiss Schnee wrote a lot of songs after the events that led to the defeat of Salem, many of which didn't exactly paint the world in a positive light; Die was one of them}

Also, I was watching a RWBY AMV on Youtube the other day (for a song I plan on using later called More Than You Know), and I was struck with a sudden realization. Well, I say realization, but it's more of a question. It was: "Oh fuck, did Yang kill her mother?"

Nyahaha! Let's go over my evidence in support of this, neh? First off, the post-credits scene at the finale of Volume 2. When Yang meets with her mother, her eyes are red instead of blue, like they are when she's using her Semblance; now, she could just be pissed off at the woman who abandoned her and her father (likely less than a few months after she was born), but it could also be a sign of her getting ready to go all out in a fight. Next, when Ruby and Qrow (I think; it might've been Yang and Qrow) are just getting done playing a video game, Qrow whips out a picture of his old team, Team STRQ, and Yang looks at it in a way that can be interpreted in a number of ways, including _regret_.

In other words, it seems that it is entirely possible that Yang killed her mother. I doubt that she did, since something that important would not likely be handled off-screen... Maybe I'm just jaded by my own habits. I would be more than willing to kill off Raven like that and simply flashback to the fight scene when it becomes relevant.

Hmm, but maybe she did, Snow... That one was always a wildfire, just waiting to burn the people around her...

Heh. Now I'm just talking to myself. Until next time, everyone.


	6. Chapter 5

Welcome back, everyone.

Nyahaha! I've got some fun stuff planned for you today!

For now, though, let's talk about something you might have been wondering about for a while: the sporadic placement of Pre-War facilities, including the Vault-Tec factory that housed Summer's Vault. Vault-Tec in particular was notorious for planting factories and research facilities in seemingly random locations; some folks blamed Pyrrha Nikos's deteriorating mental state at the time, but many of these locations were chosen by Jaune Arc under the guidance of one Qrow Branwen. But Vault-Tec wasn't the only company that Qrow had a hand in developing; he also played a major role in setting up Scattered Rose Munitions as a major powerhouse in the global economy.

Qrow, following the research papers and trails that Ozpin had left him after his death, asked and demanded for certain facilities to be placed in certain areas. When asked why, he'd give a cryptic response and just keep drinking, except for the sole occasion when it was Ruby Rose alone who asked him; then, and only then, he explained himself.

"Pivotal moments happen in pivotal points," Qrow began. "For every major conflict, there is a place perfect for it. Ozpin and Glynda had me look at some of these places a few times, over the years; in every place where a world-shaking battle ended, Dust came up from the ground and turned black, before dissolving into uselessness."

By placing buildings over key locations, Qrow managed to divert the tide of history several times. These "pivotal points" lost their relevance to the battles that they were supposed to hold, and the vast stores of Dust beneath them remained free of corruption. After the first time he'd explained this to Ruby, she managed to convince Winter Schnee, the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company at the time, to mine out the Dust beneath these facilities, leading Jaune to begin construction of the Vaults in these areas, in part to hide the Dust Company's actions.

However, Qrow was not able to completely change the face of war; battles still occurred once the Second Great War began, but these proved to be even more of a curse than he had thought. Due to the Dust Company's research and experiments, it was discovered that the corrupted Dust did not return to Remnant in the same manner as the pure Dust; in fact, Winter theorized that it did not return to the world at all. That thought was frightening for the shadow coalition, and to Qrow and Glynda especially, as they had spent so much time working with Ozpin without ever learning what happened to the corrupted Dust.

Thus, Ruby, Winter, and Jaune decided to follow Qrow's lead without hesitation. They believed that if the war could be resolved without destroying the world, Qrow would be the person who would find out.

Needless to say, he failed. The bombs dropped, filling the world with radiation and mutated magic.

Nyahaha! Let's begin, shall we?

One final thing: in this chapter, you will find someone below the age of 21 consuming an alcoholic beverage, which is illegal in the United States (my home country). This is **not** to make a statement, it is **not** to provide "evidence" of someone below said age drinking responsibly to support changing the laws; it's just part of the story. If **you** are going to drink alcohol, make sure you are the legal age and make sure you drink responsibly. Okay, PSA over; have fun!

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

V: Sucks, doesn't it?

Self: What?

V: I'm going to be back in 2 days,

V: but your leaving tomorrow

V: and you're going completely the wrong way to see me!

Self: Yeah.

Self: It sucks.

V: I know, right?

V: So, how've things beeen going?

V: With you and Summer

Self: Volka...

V: What?

V: I've been out of the loop for nearly a week

V: Let me have some girl tallk, Asra

Self: It wasn't a date, Volka.

Self: Pretty sure I told you that a week ago.

V: and how many people have you ever taken hunting before?

V: I remmber you turning down more than a few people who wanted to go with you

Self: Two things:

Self: They just wanted to have sex

Self: And they were all men.

Self: Summer's not like them

Self: At all

V: Bit defensive, arewe?

V: So why take her?

Self: Because I want her to get her revenge.

Self: I remember what wanting it is like.

V: I see.

V: And hunting comes into it because...?

Self: Because I want her to come back to us safe and sound.

Self: If she goes off half-cocked and gets killed I'd blame myself.

Self: Hunting's good practice for stealth and accuracy.

V: She needs the practice?

Self: She hits the target every time, but...

Self: She's a bit loud when it comes to sneaking around.

Self: While she was using her rifle, three deer a night, minimum.

Self: Now, she's lucky to get a boar.

V: You went hunting again?!

V: Asra, are you sure you aren't dating her?

V: You've never spent this much time with anyone

V: Ever

V: Not even me and Ferrer

V: Asra?

V: You still there?

Self: Sorry, thought I saw something.

Self: We aren't together, Volka.

Self: Seriously.

V: How do you know?

Self: I asked.

V: Oh.

V: Sorry

Self: Don't be.

Self: She just said that she didn't think of what we were doing as dating.

V: Oh.

V: So...

V: You planning on actually dating her?

Self: Not sure if I'd call it planning yet.

Self: I just met the girl, Volka.

Self: For all I know, she wouldn't be a good girlfriend.

V: Don't Worry!

V: You can count on me to keep teasing you until you ask her out!

Self: Please don't.

V: lol, you think you can stop me.

V: Either ask out Summer,

V: or find someone else.

V: Then I'll stop teasing you.

Self: I'm almost glad I won't be able to talk to you tomorrow.

V: lol

V: Shit

V: Looks like I need to help set up camp for the night.

V: Forgot it was my turn

V: Shouldn't take more than an hour, though.

Self: Okay.

Self: See you then.

V has left the chat room.

You have left the chat room.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer let out a sigh as she stared longingly at the four-wheeler behind her before turning back to her workstation, turning her attention back to the malfunctioning hotplate that Aina had brought her just an hour ago. Summer was in the garage that had become hers, laden with a variety of tools and miscellaneous parts that she had yet to fully catalog; she had been swarmed by the people of Yang's Rest over the past week, all bearing some device or mechanism they were looking to get fixed.

On the bright side, Summer had become a very wealthy woman in very short order; well, she would have, if she hadn't spent most of the bottle caps she'd earned on buying parts to fix up the four-wheeler.

Summer let out another tired sigh as she focused on the hot plate, screwing the metal plate back on top of it. Once done, she slid a small crystal of red Dust, barely the size of a toothpick, into a nearly hidden compartment on the side of the device, then slowly rotated the dial on the other side. Almost immediately, heat began to build on the metal plate she'd screwed back on, which Summer tested by tentatively lowering her hand to rest just above the surface of the plate.

Turning the hotplate back off, Summer leaned back against her metal-and-felt chair, using the rigid back to pop some of the stress that had been building up in her back. As she did, her stomach let out a low rumble, making her blush and put a hand against her belly.

"Maybe I should start picking up some lunch at the diner," Summer mumbled under her breath as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head and walking over to a nearby wooden rack, which bore her weather-proofed cloak and a large leather satchel, both a rather vibrant shade of red. Slipping both of them on, and covering up most of her black tube top and her red denim jeans in the process, Summer scooped up the now cooling hotplate and slid it into the satchel.

Before she could leave, the door to the garage slammed open, revealing the a white-haired woman wearing a doctor's coat over her sand-colored silk blouse and pair of almost immodestly tight black nylon leggings. "Hi, Summer!" Rhonwen chirped happily, clearing the distance between the two and wrapping the shorter woman in a hug. "Miss me?"

"We live in the same house, Rhonwen," Summer said, her voice almost a deadpan despite her lazy smile. She shrugged out of the hug almost by instinct; Rhonwen hugging her had not been a rare occurrence over the last week.

"Yeah, but I didn't see you at all today!" Rhonwen whined, drawing a chuckle from the tired mechanic. "You were out of the house before I had a chance to have breakfast!"

Summer snorted off a laugh and shrugged one shoulder, careful not to throw off her cloak in the process. "I had a lot of work to do."

Rhonwen frowned, looking Summer over with a critical eye. "You seem a bit pale," Rhonwen said, a note of worry entering her tone. "Raise your hand."

"What?" Summer asked, frowning at the younger woman. "Why?"

Rhonwen sighed, narrowing her eyes. "Just do it, Summer. Doctor's orders."

Summer rolled her eyes and sighed, lifting one hand and fighting to keep it from shaking. "I may have missed lunch," Summer mumbled, wincing when Rhonwen let out a sigh. "Maybe. I'm not a hundred percent sure."

"You're lying, aren't you?" Rhonwen asked, scowling at Summer. She sighed again, then shook her head and turned to leave. "Come on. I don't care where you were going, we're going to the diner first."

"That's actually where I was planning on going," Summer said, following Rhonwen out the door. After taking a brief moment to lock it behind them, the two set off at a brisk pace towards the Sunset Diner, following the now familiar route bathed in the weak moonlight.

"Are you going out hunting again tonight?" Rhonwen asked politely, hoping to show Summer that she wasn't mad or even annoyed with the older woman.

"Not tonight," Summer replied. "Asra's going to be leaving tomorrow night, so she's been going around town to see if there are any other deliveries she can make while she's out, and I'm not allowed to carry my rifle around town unless I'm with a founder or someone in the militia."

"Why not ask Storm to go with you?" Rhonwen asked, glancing sideways at Summer.

"I did ask him," Summer said, letting out a frustrated sigh. "He said he doesn't like to be outside at night. Or hunt."

"What about the sheriff? Ebeneezer?"

"He's not technically part of the militia, and he doesn't like hunting either."

"Ferrer?"

"Too busy, most days. The days he isn't, I typically hire him to make some parts for me out of scrap metal."

"Yeesh, that's rough," Rhonwen said, shaking her head with a smile. "Well, that just means you'll have more time to spend with me!"

"Yeah, when you aren't in bed with someone," Summer said, rolling her eyes.

"It's not that often," Rhonwen said, pouting at the older woman.

"Last night, it was Storm," Summer began, a light blush forming on her cheeks as she began listing off Rhonwen's recent lovers. "The night before it was that woman with the raven. Odessa, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Rhonwen said, nodding her head proudly.

"And the night before that was both of them, together," Summer continued, raising an eyebrow as Rhonwen giggled mischievously at the memory. "You have company damn near every night, these days."

"And you go hunting damn near every night, these days," Rhonwen shot back at Summer, her lips formed into a grin. "I'm willing to go without 'company' if it means I get to spend some time with you, Summer. Or, maybe, if you'd pref-"

"Pass," Summer said instantly, cutting off Rhonwen's offer in an utterly monotonous voice.

Rhonwen giggled and shook her head. "I thought as much," Rhonwen said, winking at Summer. "But still, it never hurts to ask."

Summer rolled her eyes again, her blush back as she said, "Don't get me wrong. I'd be willing to share a bed, but I'm not willing to do anything else." Summer's blush deepened as Rhonwen glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "It turns out I sleep better with someone next to me," Summer mumbled, looking off to the side to avoid Rhonwen's gaze. "But if I wake up with your head between my breasts again, I'll... I'll..."

Rhonwen let out a chuckle. "I get it, I get it," Rhonwen said around her laughter. "Honestly, though, I did just wake up there. If you find me like that and I'm still asleep, I hope you won't do more than wake me up."

Summer let out a low sigh, shaking her head. "Fine," she said, rolling her shoulders uncomfortably beneath her cloak as the two finally arrived at their destination. The two stepped through the swinging doors to the Sunset Diner and quickly made their way to the booth they liked the most, nestled in a softly lit corner against the front wall. Summer gave Aina a quick wave and a smile as the two sat down, drawing a bright grin in return from the red-haired waitress lifting a tray heavy with dirtied dishes.

They didn't have long to wait before a waitress approached their table. Her blonde hair, worn in a simple braid that fell nearly to her waist, held a single electric blue highlight that zigzagged across it and somehow made her wide cerulean eyes utterly captivating. The white apron she wore contrasted oddly with her bell-shaped dress, the same color as the highlight in her hair, and pressed softly against her curvaceous figure. The simple smile she wore beneath her nearly button-shaped nose was charming enough that Summer felt her heart leap in her chest, and she leaned towards the table, bringing what little cleavage her dress revealed into much greater prominence.

"Welcome back, you two." Her voice was like chalk grating against glass that was screaming in sheer pain; the instant she spoke, the effect of her appearance was utterly shattered, her oddly high voice so unnaturally grating that Summer couldn't help but wince. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Evening, Clarissa," Rhonwen said cheerfully, smiling at the waitress. "I'll have some green tea with extra lemon, please."

"Strawberry lemonade for me," Summer said, offering Clarissa a small smile despite how grating she found the younger waitress's voice. "And a hard cider, too."

"Sure thing, sweetheart," Clarissa said, nodding happily at the two of them. This time, Summer was prepared for the waitress's voice, and was able to keep from flinching. "I'll have it right out."

The moment she was out of earshot, Summer let out a quiet sigh of relief, rubbing at her ear with one hand. "Dust, why is her voice like that?" Summer mumbled under her breath.

Rhonwen grimaced. "Out here, I'd rather not ask," she said quietly.

"My, my, what have we here?" a breathy voice came from next to their booth, getting the two of them look at the woman who had approached them. Her red eyes glittered like rubies and brought out the green ivy-like designs stitched into her black scarf; her green tunic and brown trousers, combined with her hard leather boots, made her seem to Summer like someone who'd be familiar with traversing wooded areas. Her face bore a long scar across her left cheek, and another one resting just above her left eye, but neither they nor few wrinkles she possessed could remove the feminine beauty that she held. But her hair was what Summer found the most interesting; her shoulder-length hair, though as black as the feathers of the raven perched on the leather pauldron she wore, seemed to glow a pleasant shade of brown in the artificial lights of the diner. "I thought you said you weren't with anyone, Rhonwen dear."

Rhonwen grinned, winking at the woman. "Relax, Odessa. This is my roommate, Summer; she works as the town's mechanic, and comes from a Vault, just like me. Summer, this is Odessa. She's a courier, like Asra, though she prefers roaming around to only working with one town."

"Hello, Summer," Odessa practically purred as she offered her hand to the younger woman.

"Nice to meet you," Summer said, fighting to keep the blush from her face as she shook the courier's hand. "Well, actually meet you. I saw Rhonwen taking you up to her room a couple days ago, but we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves."

"Oh?" Odessa asked, raising the scar where her eyebrow used to be. "And you didn't join in?"

"I'm not that type of girl," Summer said, her voice dry.

"Ah, I see," Odessa said, looking Summer over with a critical eye. "You're the type of woman who only likes men, huh?"

Summer grimaced, shaking her head. "Not that type of girl either."

Odessa gave Summer a long look before she finally snapped her fingers, making the realization. "Oh, I see. You have someone, don't you?" Odessa asked, her voice taking on an almost musical quality that made Summer's heart beat just a little bit faster. "You're worried about being unfaithful."

"No, she doesn't have a relationship like that," Rhonwen said, waving her hand dismissively. "She just doesn't care for sex all that much."

Odessa blinked at Rhonwen, dumbfounded, before looking back at Summer. "What?" Odessa asked flatly.

Rhonwen let out a giggle at Odessa's response, then waved for the woman to sit with them as she noticed Clarissa returning with their drinks. "Why don't you join us for dinner?" Rhonwen asked, pulling the older woman out of her brief stupor.

Odessa blinked at Rhonwen again, then gave the white-haired woman a lazy yet sensual smirk and slid into the booth next to her. "Sure thing, sugar."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

V: So...

V: Seems like Lux is gonna be showing up at Yang's Rest in a few days.

Self: Who?

V: A courier

V: Likes to rescue slaves, gives out Dust to damn near everyone, kills every grimm ghoul and feral he sees?

V: Remember?

Self: We don't all know each other, Volka.

V: Ah.

V: Yet you know Odessa.

Self: That's different.

Self: Gods, you and Ferrer were there the first time I met her.

V: Oh yeah.

V: Forgot about that.

V: Didn't she try to get in your pants?

Self: Multiple times.

Self: But she wasn't willing to commit, so I turned her down.

V: Oh yeah

V: I remember that now

V: That was funny as hell

Self: Not for me.

Self: Gods, she pulled out a double-ended dildo.

Self: In public!

Self: How was I supposed to react to that!

V: lol

V: I was more wondering where she go tit

V: *got it, lol

Self: She's been in town, you know.

V: Oh?

Self: Heard she and Rhonwen have been having a good time together.

V: Sounds about right

V: they seem like they'd get along

V: how's Summer been handling that?

Self: Don't know.

Self: Last time I saw her she had these big dark circles beneath her eyes.

Self: But she's also been working her ass off, and hunting when she's not working.

V: She's working?

V: Wiat, what?!

V: Did she decide to stay with us?!

Self: Yeah

Self: She's the new mechanic.

V: awesome!

V: did you or Ferrer get her to fix the oven?

Self: No.

Self: She's been really busy working on every other little thing that everyone's been bringing her.

V: Damn.

V: oh well

V: maybe I'll get her to do it

V: then maybe I can bake some damn cookies

Self: Cookies?

V: Yeah

V: been craving them ever since we brought her to town

V: really weird, now that I think about it

Self: Bit wasteful, isn't it?

Self: All that flour and sugar, and the eggs and milk, too...

Self: Could go towards making bread instead.

Self: Bit more conservative that way.

Self: Healthier, too.

V: Ugh, another lecture.

V: Oh, hey, Wingman's back.

Self: On the radio?

V: yeah

V: take a listen

V: might have some cool news or something

Asra rolled her eyes as she minimized the chat room on her PIP-Boy, quickly toggling over to the radio function and tuning to Wingman's station. She popped her earbud in just in time to hear him say, "-blast from the past! We've got an old school favorite here today, folks. It's been a full decade since her last appearance before the public eye, or ear, in this case! Penny Rose, the famous robot with a soul who our dear Ruby Rose married more than two hundred years ago!"

Asra's blood seemed to chill in her veins, a shiver running up her spine as she heard Penny's soft, high, and somewhat awkward voice say, "Hello, Wingman. It's a pleasure to see you again."

"So, what brings you through here, Penny? From what I remember of our last meeting, you don't like to leave your home for long," Wingman said, though Asra barely heard him.

"Oh gods. Summer," Asra mumbled inaudibly, her yellow eyes wide as she stared at her PIP-Boy. 'What would she think if she knew her ancestor married a robot?' Asra's thoughts were racing by almost faster than she could keep track of them, but that one stood out in particular.

"I heard your broadcast last week, Wingman. I'm actually just passing by on my way north to see Rhonwen Schnee," Penny said amicably, making Asra let out a pained groan.

"Oh?" came Wingman's almost startled declaration. "May I ask why?"

"Please, Wingman," Penny said, her voice showing her smile to Asra as surely as her face would have. "Weiss and Winter Schnee were both close friends of mine, and I babysat for them on multiple occasions. I want to meet their descendant, at the very least to honor their memories."

"And what if Rhonwen isn't a descendant of the Schnee family?" Wingman asked. "What if she's just the step-daughter to a Schnee?"

"Then she'd at least be able to point me in the right direction," Penny said, a note of humor in her voice.

"Well, I hope you're prepared for a long journey, then," Wingman said, just as friendly and pleasant as Penny had been. "It's quite a long trek from here to Yang's Rest."

Penny laughed, a tinkling, vaguely musical sound that sent another shiver up Asra's spine. "Then it's a good thing I'm not walking. I've kept my car in good shape, despite all the time since I last needed to drive."

"Oh, well, that'd cut down on the travel time," Wingman said, somewhat awkwardly. "I'm sorry if I'm a bit out of sorts, everyone," Wingman added, addressing the audience. "I hope you can forgive me for being awkward around someone I've admired for a long time."

"Admired, hmm?" Penny asked, her voice implying a smirk. "In what way?"

Wingman burst out laughing at the comment, and Penny giggled at the reaction. "Sorry, sorry," Wingman said, continuing to chuckle for a long moment. "Yeah, I admire you, Penny. You're a strong, confident woman who knows so much history that it'd probably give me an aneurysm just trying to comprehend just how much you know. Actually, that gives me an idea: if you're willing, we could make a history focused segment on the show where you call in to do some teaching."

"That sounds like it could be fun," Penny began, "but I'm not sure if I'd be willing to do that. It might just be history to you, but I lived through a lot of it, and some of the people you call 'heroes' or even 'gods' I knew better as 'friends'. I don't know if I'd like to talk about them like that."

"Well, that's a shame. I was looking forward to talking to you a bit more frequently than once a decade."

"We can still chat every now and then, Wingman. Or, we could, if the CCT wasn't down."

"You still use that old thing?"

"Says the man with a radio show."

"Heh, true. Well, is there anything else you'd like to talk about before you get back to it?"

"Not particularly."

"In that case, want to make any suggestions for what songs you want to hear these next few days? Some music to help the miles go by faster?"

"Well, if you're offering, I always like to hear the Redfield series that Weiss made. They might be a bit darker than what you usually play, but I still enjoy them."

"Alright! In that case, how about I spin one up right now? Incoming, everyone: it's Hope of Morning!"

The tune of a piano, so distorted by electronic tampering that it was nearly unrecognizable as a piano, began to ring in Asra's ear as the interview ended. She swallowed nervously, then tabbed back over to the chat room, skipping past a long stretch of notes from Volka asking if she was back yet.

Self: Well, fuck.

V: yur damn fucking right

V: what should we do?

Self: Do we tell Summer?

V: I was more thinking hiding her away while Penny's there

V: shit, this is gonna suck, isn't it?

Self: Well, I do have one thing to look forward to.

V: Yeah?

Self: I won't be here when you have to stop Summer from killing what's basically her great x6 grandmother.

V: fuck you

V: this isn't the time to joke, A

V: we need a fucking solution

V: oh Dust, I don't even want to think how she'd react to this

Self: I don't know, Volka.

Self: I wish I could help.

Self: I'll make sure to let Ferrer know, at the very least.

V: Thanks, Asra.

V: I appreciate it.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I know this is a bit out of nowhere," Summer began, gesturing with her fork, which held a small chunk from her venison steak on its three prongs, "but can you tell me about your bird?"

"Oh, you mean Raven?" Odessa asked, smiling as the raven looked at Summer with its beady red eyes.

"I guess," Summer said with a shrug, taking a sip of her strawberry lemonade. "Studying species of animals wasn't exactly high-priority in my Vault."

Odessa laughed, shaking her head as she picked up another of the thick fries from her plate. "No, no, her _name_ is Raven," Odessa clarified, making Summer blush in embarrassment. "Though she is a raven, too, so I can see why you'd make that mistake."

"Wait, why'd you name her after her species?" Rhonwen asked, setting her hamburger, laden with grilled and dried apple wedges, back down on her plate.

"I didn't name her," Odessa said, rolling her eyes as she grinned at the white-haired doctor. "She named herself."

"What?" Rhonwen asked, pausing with her tea half-raised to her lips. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can understand animals," Odessa said with a shrug, still smiling happily as she ran a finger over Raven's feathers. "I can talk to them, and they can talk to me. What's more, they typically like me enough that even wild animals will help me if I ask them."

"Wow," Summer said, leaning back in her chair as she chewed on her morsel of steak. When she swallowed, she added, "That's a pretty good Semblance."

"Oh, it isn't my Semblance," Odessa said, laughing heartily at the expression that appeared on Summer's face. "My Semblance lets me store things in an extra-dimensional pocket and retrieve them just as quickly. It comes in quite handy when I need to get dressed in a hurry, or if I end up disarmed in a fight."

"Wait, you... what?" Summer asked, drawing another laugh from Odessa. "How do you have more than one... ability, I guess I'd call it?"

Odessa shrugged, nearly jostling Raven off of her shoulder. "Oops, sorry, Raven," Odessa said soothingly to the bird, running a finger over her feathers again. "I don't know," Odessa replied to Summer. "It's just something I can do."

Summer jumped in surprise as her PIP-Boy let out a sudden shrill beep, causing her to nearly knock over her cider. "Sorry, one second," Summer said apologetically, nodding her head at Odessa and Rhonwen as she opened the message she'd received.

 _Summer_

 _We need to talk. Sooner rather than later. When's fine with you?_

 _Asra_

 _Message received from device W00_

Summer frowned as she read the brief message, then typed back her reply.

 _Asra_

 _Eating with Rhonwen right now. Maybe in 10-15 minutes? Might be a bit longer, though._

 _Summer_

"What was that about?" Rhonwen asked as Summer lowered her PIP-Boy's volume until it was nearly silent.

"Asra wants to talk to me about something," Summer said, shrugging her shoulders as she picked her knife and fork back up. "I'm guessing it's gonna be a big deal."

"Ooh, maybe she'll ask you on a date!" Rhonwen teased, making Summer blush and glare halfheartedly at the white-haired woman. Odessa let out a quiet chuckle at the two of them, chewing slowly on another fry.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"So, what's up?" Summer asked once she'd taken a seat on the edge of Asra's bed. The wolf Faunus had been in her room only once before, when she was waiting for her feline friend to get ready for one of their hunts, and the rather barren room hadn't changed since then. The bed's sheets were rather plain, a thin white sheet resting beneath a much fuzzier blue blanket that was pleasantly soft beneath Summer's hands. Other than the bed, only a simple wooden desk, the equally simple chair nestled beneath it, and the large bookcase that dominated the western wall broke up the monotony of the room's aquamarine walls.

Asra had chosen to stand, but she found herself pacing, her worry plainly evident in the twitching of the cat-like ears atop her head. She had chosen to put on her overcoat, the long tassels dragging against the ground since she wasn't wearing her thick-soled boots; the simple comfort was enough to keep her from freaking out completely. "I'm not really sure where to begin with this," Asra said, rubbing at her forehead with one hand.

"Begin with what?" Summer asked, idly wondering if Rhonwen had been correct in her earlier assumption before dismissing the idea; Asra hadn't had any qualms about asking her if their hunting lessons had been dates, after all, so Summer found it unlikely that her worry was based on that.

Asra took a long, deep breath, then asked, "Do you know about Ruby's wife?"

"... Yeah?" Summer asked slowly, her tone turning the statement into a question. "Why? What about her?"

"Do you know what she was?" Asra asked, making an effort to keep her breathing steady in an attempt to keep her roiling stomach from emptying itself onto the floor of her room.

"Oh, I see now," Summer said, smiling at Asra. "Penny's still alive. Well, around, I mean. Robots aren't really alive, after all."

Asra stood dumbfounded by Summer's statement, staring at the younger woman for a long moment before she finally asked, "You knew? About Penny being..."

"Asra, history was one of the few subjects I was actually interested in learning," Summer explained, still smiling at the cat Faunus. "I put some extra effort into learning about my family's history, in particular, so I learned a lot about Ruby and Penny."

Asra sat down on the bed next to Summer, giving her an odd look. "You know, most people in your situation would be freaking out if they learned something like this," Asra said, almost annoyed by Summer's nonchalance. "I mean, she was married to your ancestor!"

"I'm guessing there's more of a reason to this than you wanting to psychoanalyze me?" Summer asked, raising an eyebrow at Asra.

Asra frowned, then sighed, letting herself flop down onto her back. "Yeah," Asra said after a long moment of staring up at the ceiling. "She's coming to town to meet Rhonwen. She heard the news about you two a week ago, and wants to meet Weiss's descendant."

Summer let out a giggle, shaking her head. "Looks like she's in for a surprise, then," Summer said, drawing a chuckle from Asra. "So, you thought I'd freak out when I heard this? Why?"

"Everything you went through a week ago," Asra said, propping herself up on one elbow so she could face Summer. "At your Vault."

Summer frowned, then shook her head again. "I'm not exactly right in the head," Summer said, "but I've moved on from that stuff. I think. I haven't exactly seen a robot since then, though, so I guess we'll find out when she gets here."

Asra sighed again, turning her eyes away from Summer. "I won't be here, remember?" Asra mumbled, letting her gaze drift back up to the ceiling. "I have to leave tomorrow night to make my deliveries."

Summer smiled, then said, "Well, at least this is probably the last time you'll have to go on foot."

"Huh?" Asra asked, looking back at Summer.

"I'm nearly done fixing the four-wheeler you brought in," Summer said, her tail twitching excitedly behind her as she beamed at the feline Faunus. "I just need someone strong enough to swap out the old engine for the new one Ferrer made, and then hook everything up. Shouldn't take me more than a day or two, at most, and then it'd only take you a few days to drive down there, assuming you stopped regularly."

Asra started at Summer, her mouth hanging open slightly. "I won't have to take weeks to make that delivery anymore?" Asra mumbled, swallowing at the lump forming in her throat. "I could... I could stay here for most of the month! Oh gods, Summer, thank you!" Asra exclaimed, sitting upright to wrap the younger woman in a tight hug. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"I'm not done with it yet," Summer said, fighting back the wave of anxiety that filled her when Asra hugged her. "It might take a few days before I can get the engine swapped out, so you'd probably still need to go without it this time if you want to make it on time."

Asra chuckled, briefly tightening her hug before she let Summer go, placing her hands on Summer's shoulders. "You don't know how much I always hated being gone for so long," Asra mumbled, staring into Summer's eyes, feline yellow locked to lupine silver. "Thank you, Summer."

Summer smiled back at Asra, a light blush forming on her cheeks as she said, "You're welcome."

Asra continued to stare into Summer's eyes for a long moment, making Summer's blush grow deeper. The cat-eared Faunus closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned her head to Summer's, making the younger woman's eyes widen as she felt Asra's lips press against her own. Summer's eyes fluttered, half-closing as she felt a heavy warmth settle into her chest.

Summer nearly moaned in disappointment when the kiss ended, but her attempt to stifle it turned it into a pleased growl that was nearly a purr. "Summer, would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?" Asra asked, her own voice breathy as her heart pounded behind her breasts.

"That depends," Summer teased, placing a hand on Asra's shoulder as she licked her lips. "Would it be a date?"

Asra smiled, then nodded. "Yeah," Asra said, blushing.

"Then yes," Summer said.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

You have entered the chat room.

Volka: finally

Volka: we've been waiting for

Volka: like

Volka: 20 min

Volka: what took you so long?

Rhonwen: And why isn't Asra here yet?

Rhonwen: Wait

Rhonwen: Don't tell me

Rhonwen: Did you two...

Self: Not what you're thinking.

Rhonwen: How do you know what I'm thinking?

Self: You're you.

Volka: lol

Volka: sriously, though

Volka: what took you?

Self: Only just got back in.

Self: Surprised you didn't hear me get in, Rhonwen.

Rhonwen: I've got my headphones in.

Volka: Listening to the Wingman?

Rhonwen: No.

Rhonwen: I get Vault 22's radio still.

Rhonwen: Apparently we're in range out here.

Volka: Wait

Volka: what's taking Asra, then?

Self: Don't know.

Self: I came pretty much straight back from her place.

Self: Stopped to drop some things off at the garage, too.

Self: Don't know why she's taking so long.

Volka: Well

Volka: now's a good time to say this, then

Volka: Summer!

Self: Yeah?

Volka: I want you to get into a relationship with Asra.

Self: ...

Volka: She needs someone in her life, and I think you'd be good for her.

Rhonwen: You're using proper grammar.

Rhonwen: Unholy fuck.

Self: No offense, Volka, but you barely know me.

Self: What makes you think I'd be good for her?

Volka: without being asked to, you fixed the water purifier

Volka: letting us get clean drinking water without using Dust

Volka: without being asked to, you took up a gun in defense of everyone at Yang's Rest

Volka: and you barely knew any of us

Volka: and instead of asking me what you'd like about her

Volka: you asked why I thought you'd be good for her

Volka: Just start dating her already!

Volka: Please.

Self: ...

Asra has entered the chat room.

Volka: oh

Volka: hi, Asra!

Asra: Hey

Rhonwen: We can go back through the chat logs, right?

Asra: ...

Asra: Well, now's as good a time as any.

Self: Damn.

Self: Was hoping you'd let me convince Volka to help me with the engine before you told them.

Rhonwen: Told us what?

Asra: Summer and I are together now.

Volka: wat

Volka: aftr all that

Volka: Summer you bitch!

Rhonwen: Never heard anyone laugh quite like that before.

Rhonwen: So, was that what you wanted to talk to Summer about?

Asra: No.

Asra: Actually, you should know this too, Rhonwen.

Rhonwen: Know what?

Asra: Do you know about Penny Rose?

Rhonwen: I'm guessing one of Summer's ancestors?

Asra: Yes and no.

Rhonwen: Huh?

Volka: Ruby's robot wife

Volka: She's still around

Volka: and she wants to meet you, Rhonwen

Rhonwen: What?

Rhonwen: Why?

Volka: something about you being Weiss's descendant

Rhonwen: Wonderful.

Rhonwen: More Schnee nonsense.

Summer: You don't like your family?

Rhonwen: I don't like all the nonsense that follows the name.

Rhonwen: Everyone expects the world from a Schnee.

Rhonwen: So annoying.

Volka: she just wants to meet you, Rhonwen

Volka: odds are you'll scare her off before long

Rhonwen: What's that supposed to mean?

Volka: didn't you say you'd be willing to bang Weiss just a week ago?

Volka: she'll probably freak out if you want to have sex with her

Summer: I'll freak out even if she doesn't.

Rhonwen: How would one have sex with a robot?

Summer: Please don't say these things.

Summer: Even if you do find a way

Summer: It'd mean that Ruby put it there

Summer: and I don't want to think about that.

Rhonwen: Fine.

Rhonwen: I won't talk about vibration settings.

Rhonwen: Or motorized joints.

Summer: ;_;

Rhonwen: Or lubricants.

Volka: lol

Summer: Can we please move on?

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Nyahaha! Well, up next was the date between them, so-

No.

Huh?

We don't need to go over that.

Ooh, does the Seraph not want to hear what's going on with her favored flock? Nyahaha!

I'd prefer to preserve what little privacy they have left for as long as possible. If that means skipping little things like this, then so be it.

Nyahaha! Then, should we just skip straight to the end, hmm? Tell what happens when Dark and Light finally finish their eternal war?

No. You need to find a balance.

Just me, huh?

You're the one telling the story, after all.

Nyahaha! Fine, then we'll get right after it. _Seraph_.

...

No response, hmm? Seems like I've still got it.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Thanks for that, Asra," Summer said, smiling brightly at the cat-eared Faunus. The two were standing just outside of Summer's workshop, the afternoon sun bearing down on them as they returned from Asra's residence. "I didn't know what I was expecting, but watching a movie in your living room wasn't it."

Asra smiled in return. "I'm glad. It's one of my favorites, and I don't get a chance to watch many movies these days," Asra said, feeling the urge to explain herself again. "But I'm happy you enjoyed it, too."

"And the food was pretty good, too," Summer continued, happily patting her belly as her tail lazily swished behind her. "You're a better cook than you claimed."

Asra blushed and flashed Summer a brief grin. "So," Asra said, feeling somewhat awkward. "I guess I'll see you tonight? Before I leave?"

"I hope so," Summer said, her smile turning into a smirk as Asra pouted at her. "Until then," Summer added, and the two of them leaned their heads together, sharing a kiss. Asra placed her hand behind Summer's head, her other snaking out to Summer's waist and rubbing small circles onto the bare skin that the wolf Faunus's short tube top exposed. Summer couldn't help but let out a quiet groan, opening her mouth in the process; her eyes shot open when she felt Asra's tongue invade her mouth, only for her to close them again once she started enjoying it and working her own tongue with Asra's, turning what was supposed to be a brief kiss into a full-blown make out session.

"Ahem." Rhonwen's voice startled the two enough to make them break the kiss, their heads whirling to face the smirking white-haired doctor. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun," Rhonwen said, her smirk widening as she saw the growing blushes on Summer's and Asra's faces.

"W-well," Asra stammered, taking her hands off of Summer and backing a step away. "S-see you to-tonigh-tonight?"

"Yeah," Summer said, glaring at Rhonwen before giving Asra a brief kiss on the cheek. "Until then."

Asra practically ran away after that, leaving Summer to scowl at a thoroughly amused Rhonwen. "You know, there is such a thing as a bedroom," Rhonwen said in a deliberate deadpan, fighting the urge to giggle as Summer blushed again. "Although a couch can work too, if you're in a hurry."

"Need something?" Summer asked, fishing the key to her workshop from the pocket of her jeans.

"Yeah, actually," Rhonwen said, all traces of humor leaving her voice as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "We've got a guy with a broken bone, but our X-ray machine stopped working. Can you fix it?"

Summer let out a sigh, slipping her key back into her pocket. "Maybe. I'd need to see what's wrong with it, first."

"Then let's go," Rhonwen said, smiling at Summer. As the two began walking to the Yang's Rest medical clinic, Rhonwen said, "So, you and Asra..."

Summer waited for a moment, then sighed again as Rhonwen continued to not say anything. "Yes, Rhonwen?" Summer asked irritably, drawing a giggle from the taller woman.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer blush again. "I don't mean like that. Well, mostly. I could probably let you copy a book or two off my PIP-Boy if you wanted some tips on _that_ subject."

"Then what do you mean?" Summer asked, narrowing her eyes at Rhonwen.

"I mean, do you know how to handle a date?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer frown. "How to treat her during the date, what questions to ask to make her feel happy, how to answer her questions to make her feel happy, where to take her, what to do; you know, those sorts of things?"

Summer thought it over for a long moment, then sighed again and shook her head. "I guess not," Summer said, chewing on her lower lip. "But everything seemed to go well today."

"But they might not go that well in the future," Rhonwen said, causing Summer to scowl at her. "I'm not trying to make you worry, Summer. I guess I'm just a pessimist when it comes to this sort of thing."

"So what would you suggest?" Summer asked, her voice very nearly a growl as she turned her gaze back to the road in front of her.

"Why not get some practice?" Rhonwen asked, drawing a perplexed look from Summer. "You know that I'm probably never going to settle down with someone. We could have a couple of fake dates while Asra's gone, and I can tell you what I think you're doing right and what I think you're doing wrong."

"Are you sure you're not trying to trick me into sleeping with you?" Summer asked, drawing a pouting frown from Rhonwen.

"We've already slept together, Summer," Rhonwen said, winking at Summer. "But if I want to have sex with you now, I'd have to have a threesome with you and Asra," Rhonwen explained, making Summer flinch away from her in shock. "Otherwise, you'd be cheating on her. I might be a nymphomaniac, but I'm not a homewrecker."

For a long moment, Summer just walked in silence. "Okay," she finally said, making Rhonwen gasp. "What?" Summer asked, confused.

"Did you just agree to a threesome?" Rhonwen asked, holding a hand in front of her mouth, in part to act shocked, in part to hide her smirk.

Summer blushed, shaking her head hard enough that her hair whipped around and settled into a tangled mess, which she started clawing at irritably. "Not that," Summer growled, scowling at the giggling doctor. "The practice dates."

Rhonwen nodded her head appreciatively, lowering her hand to show Summer her victorious grin. "Good. We'll have our first one on Saturday, okay? We can go through everything step by step, including the process of getting ready for a date," Rhonwen said, drawing a long sigh from Summer. "Although, now that I'm thinking about it," Rhonwen continued, "it might be more fun if we invited Volka and made it a foursome." Summer sputtered, a tremendous blush lighting on her face. "That'd be fun to tell Penny. 'Hey, you know how we're all the descendants of the team your wife was on? We all had sex.'" Rhonwen laughed as Summer continued to sputter, trying to find something she could say in response and utterly failing. "I might tell her that anyways, just to see if her reaction is similar to yours."

"Please don't," Summer mumbled, burying her face in her hands. "Please, just don't. I'm practically related to her, and that's gonna be awkward enough. We don't need the added complications that you're thinking of throwing in."

Rhonwen laughed, but her lack of any other response made Summer worry.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Well, there's your problem," Summer said dryly, having just pulled open one of the side hatches on the rather primitive NMR imager. Inside, wires dangled haphazardly, some of them brushing against each other outside of their protective plastic shells; the copper and gold circuitry beneath the exposed wires was coated in scorched dust, a result of the most recent attempt to use the scanner. "Shouldn't be too much trouble to fix, at least. I probably have enough wires like this back at the garage; even if I don't, I should be able to find them in pretty much any electronic devices I take apart."

"Well, that's a relief," Rhonwen said, letting out a sigh as she flashed a small smile at the woodsman sitting on one of the many cots in the medical center. Rhonwen turned her head back to Summer as she asked, "Can you get it working again today?"

"I can have it working in half an hour if this is the only thing wrong with it," Summer said, standing back up and stretching her back, her tail whipping excitedly behind her. "Damage like this can often lead to other parts getting damaged or destroyed, especially with more complex machinery like this. I might have to test it a couple times before I let you use it on him, just to make sure that it won't give him radiation poisoning or something."

"Well, at least we have the supplies tah treat that," Haruki said, the doctor clicking his tongue at the injured man when he fidgeted his arm. "Stop that, Setanta. Yah'll make it worse, and we'd have tah re-break it tah fix it."

Setanta paled, his freckles standing out in sharp contrast to his nearly alabaster skin as he stilled his arm. He grit his teeth, then ran his other hand through his platinum blonde hair, bringing the muscles on his shirtless chest into prominence with the simple act. He smiled nervously at Haruki, who nodded at him; Setanta let out a sigh at the response, settling back into his seat on the cot as well as he could without jostling his broken arm, his grey eyes flicking over to Summer as she appraised the wires again.

"This might be a problem, though," Summer said, frowning at the wires. "I've never seen wires get stripped like this before, even when they were worked between clockwork gears. Odds are this is intentional."

Rhonwen blinked in surprise, then frowned. "What do you mean, 'intentional'?" Rhonwen asked, her voice low and quiet.

"I mean, odds are someone sabotaged this for some reason," Summer said with a grunt, glaring at the wires before sighing and shaking her head. "I can't think of anything else that could've done this, especially not the components around them."

"Ah'll talk tah Ferrer and Ebeneezer, then," Haruki said, giving the eerily still Rhonwen an odd look before he turned to leave. "Get some militiamen around the clinic."

"Summer, can we talk?" Rhonwen asked quietly, throwing a glance at Setanta as she added, "In private?"

The platinum-haired man let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, then made a shooing motion at Rhonwen with his good hand. Rhonwen smiled at him, inclining her head slightly in gratitude as she and Summer walked out of the clinic.

"I'm guessing this is important?" Summer asked, leaning against the clinic's exterior wall.

Rhonwen took a deep breath to steady herself, then nodded. "For about a week before I was exiled from my Vault, there was a series of strange 'accidents'," Rhonwen said, her lips pursing as though the word was sour on her tongue. "Things a lot like this, that left a lot of people hurt or lacking proper care; one even killed my mother." Summer winced, casting her eyes to the ground as she nodded her head slowly, silently encouraging the white-haired doctor to continue. "They stopped the day before I was exiled. The day my father disappeared from the Vault."

"You're thinking it was him?" Summer asked slowly, trying not to agitate Rhonwen any further while still getting to the meat of the issue.

"As much as I don't want to," Rhonwen said, practically whimpering as she shook her head. "My father was a good man, a good doctor; fuck, he's probably the reason I wanted to become a doctor in the first place. If it was him... if it was him, then it wasn't him."

"What?" Summer asked, confusion etched in her features as she frowned at Rhonwen.

"The Douglas Schnee that I knew would never intentionally harm anyone," Rhonwen asserted, shaking her head, a fire built of chained fury behind her blue eyes. "If it's him, then it _can't_ be him. I... I'm not sure if I can put it any other way."

Summer let out a low sound in her throat, turning her gaze to the sky to watch the sun disappear behind a thin white cloud. "When I was little, Layla and I would always look for more stories to tell each other," Summer began, making it Rhonwen's turn to give her a confused frown. "One of the ones I found was a fairy tale, about something that supposedly created the Grimm. Something that could possess people, change them into radically different people than they were before." Summer lowered her head to meet Rhonwen's eyes. "The copy I found had notes from Summer Rose, Ruby's daughter, I mean. She had written in the margins, all sorts of little things that match with historical accounts of the Battle at Beacon. Things like people's eyes changing color to match their Aura's; people's Semblances changing radically, either in power or in effect; even one case of someone who went completely blind, but could still see through the entity's power."

"I think I know where you're going with this," Rhonwen said, swallowing at the lump forming in her throat. "You're saying that my father isn't my father anymore, but this _thing_ that's possessed him?"

Summer let out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair, her tail whipping erratically against the wall behind her. "My ancestor seemed to put a lot of thought into such an odd little fairy tale," Summer said, not quite committing to the sentiment. "It seemed strange to me, even when I was little. Accepted into a prestigious institute at a young age, devoted to unraveling the secrets of the universe; why would she spend so much time and effort into researching a fairy tale?" Summer let out another sigh and shook her head. "Some of her notes said that the entity, the Shade, could possess multiple people simultaneously, and theorized that it wasn't actually possessing them, but merely infecting them, turning them into something more like the Grimm than a person."

Rhonwen felt her heart sink in her chest, and she slumped against the wall of the clinic, her eyes closed. "Oh, what in the utter fuck should I do?" Rhonwen mumbled under her breath, placing one hand over her eyes.

"We can find him," Summer offered, making Rhonwen's hand drop and her eyes snap open. "Ask him what's going on. Worst case scenario, we can try to find a way to undo the possession." Summer swallowed, suddenly nauseous. "I might have to go back to Vault 4. For Summer's notes."

"You... you'd do that? To help me?" Rhonwen asked softly, tears threatening to spill over her eyes. "You'd go back there for a chance to help my father?"

Summer smiled weakly, then nodded her head. "To help you," Summer clarified. "I don't know your father, but this clearly means a lot to you."

Rhonwen seemed taken aback by the response, but embraced Summer in a brief hug after a moment. "Thank you, Summer," Rhonwen whispered into Summer's ear as she let go of the shorter woman. "I'd appreciate any help I can get."

"I'm not gonna plan on going quite yet," Summer said. "We still don't know if that's the case, or if it's even your father doing this. I'd rather not spend the effort finding those notes for nothing, especially since I have no idea where I last saw them."

"Right," Rhonwen said, nodding her head. "For now, we just need to find out who's doing this."

"No," Summer replied, shaking her head. "For now, that's what the militiamen will be doing; _we_ just need to make sure nothing bad comes of the sabotage. I'll fix whatever ends up breaking, and you and Haruki patch up anyone who shows up injured. Unless we get concrete evidence it's your father, this isn't our responsibility."

Rhonwen frowned, nearly scowling at Summer as she considered what she was going to say. "We should still help when we can," she finally said slowly, locking her blue eyes to Summer's silver.

"And that's what we'll be doing by fixing the people who get hurt and the machines that get damaged," Summer said, shrugging her shoulders. "It isn't our problem unless it's your father, and going about this like vigilantes isn't the proper solution. If we succeed, it will be expected of us, even when it isn't our problem; if we fail, we'll seem like our recent esteem has gone to our heads, and present a problem of our own to Yang's Rest."

Rhonwen sighed, frustrated. "I'm still going to investigate this, Summer, with or without you," Rhonwen growled, surprising the older woman.

"I never said I was going to stop you," Summer said slowly, being careful not to aggravate Rhonwen any further. "I just don't think it'd be a good use of your talents, or of mine. If Asra wasn't leaving tonight, I'd try to talk her into helping, but that's not an avenue we can pursue."

Rhonwen let out another sigh, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "When did you get this verbose?" she asked after a moment.

"This is how I think," Summer said, shrugging again. "I'm a bit too cautious around most people to speak like this for long, though. I worry that I'll say something that offends them in my rambling, or that they'll take something I say the wrong way and I'll move past it without realizing it."

Rhonwen sighed yet again, running a hand through her short white hair. "I need to do this, Summer," Rhonwen said lowly, her voice firm and unyielding. "I'm going to look into it, no matter what."

Summer let out a sigh of her own, then nodded her head once. "Fine. Just make sure you don't do it alone," Summer continued, making Rhonwen narrow her eyes at Summer. "I'm willing to lend a hand at night, when you'll be wanting a Faunus's night vision, but I'll likely be busy during the day. Having more than one set of eyes looking at something can help you understand it better, especially when the minds behind them are radically different."

Rhonwen frowned, cocking her head to one side. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"I read it in a textbook," Summer answered, shrugging her shoulders again. "Apparently, Ruby was quite fond of the four-person teams that her Huntsman Academy trained them in, said that they forced people to get to know people they would never even think of speaking to otherwise." Summer frowned, then added, "That reminds me. What'll you do when Penny gets here?"

"What do you mean?" Rhonwen asked.

"You likely won't want her following you around while you're doing your investigating," Summer said. "She's old, but all that means is that she's probably excessively powerful. Having her around for that would be like... it'd be like having a nuclear bomb following you. She'd scare off whoever you end up chasing by the fact of her presence."

Rhonwen frowned, then smirked at Summer, her blue eyes glittering. "I could always tell her about you," Rhonwen said, making Summer's face pale and her tail suddenly freeze mid-thrash. "About how her lover's descendant is my roommate. That'd more than likely give me the space I need, if it became an issue."

Summer sighed, then shook her head. "If you must," she said slowly, scowling up at the comparatively tall doctor. "But I won't be able to help you at nights. You'd be on your own, for the most part."

"That's fine with me," Rhonwen said, nodding her head firmly. "I'll manage it somehow."

As Rhonwen walked back into the clinic, Summer began to walk back to her garage. "Why do I feel like this is going to end badly?" she muttered to herself, offering a passing nod of greeting as she walked past Storm and a red-haired woman she'd never seen before.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I'm back," Summer announced as she opened the door to the clinic, a cherry-red toolbox held in one hand as she fumbled at the doorknob with her free hand. She used her foot to close the door behind her as she strode over to the NMR imager, setting her toolbox down next to it with an audible thud. As she started working on swapping out the damaged wires almost the instant she walked in, Summer did not notice the sheer number of people standing the the room.

"Yeah, we can see that," Storm said sarcastically, smirking at Summer as she tossed him a brief, somewhat annoyed smile. "You might want to table that for the moment, Summer," Storm added, much more seriously. Summer looked at him again, frowning, as he continued, saying, "We've got a visitor."

"Huh?" Summer asked, looking over at Rhonwen, who merely shrugged and nodded at the sole person in the room who Summer didn't recognize. The cut of her short, red-orange hair would have been nearly boyish if it wasn't so poofy, hugging and partially hiding the soft curves of her cheeks and framing her sharp, angular chin. Her dress was an affair in bright green and equally bright red, the two colors crisscrossing pleasantly and framing her lithe body in a manner that accentuated what few curves her form held. A PIP-Boy was wrapped around her right forearm, the simple black leather of its bracer decorated with a pattern of scattered red rose petals that seemed to flow up and over the unpainted steel of the device itself. The woman's green eyes seemed oddly blank as she stared at Summer, her body so utterly still that she seemed nearly robotic to the young woman. "Wait," Summer muttered, standing up straighter, her frown deepening as she stared back at the red-haired woman. "You seem familiar. Have we met?"

Rhonwen chuckled under her breath, shaking her head as she walked over to Summer and put a hand on her shoulder. "Summer, this is Penny Rose," Rhonwen said, feeling the Faunus beneath her hand go so still she seemed to turn to stone. "She came to visit 'the descendant of Weiss Schnee'," Rhonwen added, seeming to physically restrain herself to keep from spitting the words out venomously. Turning back to the stunned robot, Rhonwen continued the introductions, saying, "Penny, this is Summer Dream, a descendant of Ruby Rose and the sole survivor of Vault 4."

Summer felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared at Penny, her heart hammering in her chest as a myriad of images and sensations bombarded her. Gritting her teeth with the effort, she shoved them away to focus on the people in front of her, grateful that Rhonwen had her hand on her shoulder; the faint warmth of the contact was enough to push away the memories of pooled blood and cold steel. "Hello," Summer finally said, nearly a full minute after the two of them had been introduced. "It's a pleasure to meet you, um, Mrs. Rose?" Summer's voice formed a question as she realized she didn't know what she should refer to Penny as.

Penny seemed nearly as stunned as Summer had been, only managing to shake herself out of it at Summer's halfhearted greeting. "Um, hello," Penny replied, her tinny voice high and faint as she continued to stare at Summer. "I... I'm afraid to ask, but... what did Rhonwen mean by sole survivor?" Penny's voice seemed to shake as she asked her question, a glint of fear entering her perfectly realistic eyes.

"A computer virus turned our security robots against us," Summer said, her voice hardening almost against her will. She closed her eyes as the memories began to assault her again, taking deep breaths as she added, "As far as I know, I'm the only one who made it out."

Penny made a noise that almost sounded like she was choking, despite her lack of a windpipe. Her hand rose to her throat, cream-colored artificial skin stretched tight over her mechanical knuckles. "I... I see," Penny mumbled, still staring at Summer. "I... I'm sorry, Summer."

Summer shrugged one shoulder, her other still gripped tightly by Rhonwen, and turned back to the NMR imager. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do," Summer said, almost curtly, as she pulled a pair of wire cutters from one of the satchels she wore on her belt. Rhonwen smiled somewhat nervously at Penny, raising one hand as if to say "What can you do?"

"Well, I think I'm gonna head out," Storm said after a moment, nervously shuffling towards the door. "I've got some more work to do, so... see you later!" he all but yelled as he rushed out of the door, letting it swing shut on its own behind him.

The tension in the room was so thick it was almost physical, and Setanta shuffled nervously in his seat, looking between Penny and Summer with a frown. After a moment, he let out a soundless sigh and stood up, cradling his broken arm against his chest as he ran his other hand through his platinum-blonde hair. Stepping in front of the silent robot, he waved his hand in front of her eyes, startling her enough to turn her attention to him. He pointed at the clock sitting atop one of the many tables in the room, then spun his finger in a tight circle before cocking his head over at Summer; finally, Setanta gave Penny a thumbs up and cocked his head to one side, as if asking her if something was okay.

It took a moment for Penny to understand what he meant, but she finally let out a sigh and nodded her head. "I see," she said quietly, looking past Setanta to stare at Summer for another moment. "I guess we'll talk later, Summer," Penny added, barely raising her voice as she solemnly trudged to the door.

As Penny left, Setanta turned to Rhonwen, who was looking at him curiously; he pointed a finger at her, then jerked his thumb at the depressed robot. Rhonwen rolled her eyes, but nodded nonetheless, following Penny out of the clinic. The moment Rhonwen had closed the door behind her, Haruki let out a chuckle.

"First time Ah've ever seen a mute be so persuasive," Haruki said, smirking at Setanta as the platinum-haired man grinned at him. "Now, let's get yah another dose of painkiller while yah're waiting on Summer. Ah don't know why Rhonwen's so stingy with the stuff; 't'ain't like Med-X."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You're kidding," Asra said, staring at Summer with wide eyes. The two were standing just outside of the cat Faunus's home, and Asra had been in the middle of lacing her boots when Summer decided to tell her about Penny's arrival. "She's here already?"

Summer scowled at Asra, then sighed, her scowl quickly fading beneath her anxiety. "Yeah," Summer said, her voice quiet and bereft of emotion. "What should I do?" Summer asked suddenly, startling Asra into freezing again. "I... I don't... I don't know if I can accept her."

Asra stood up, her boot still untied, and placed her hands on Summer's shoulders. "Summer, I don't know if I can even begin to understand what you're going through right now," Asra began as Summer met her eyes, soothing yellow meeting timid silver, "but I know that Penny isn't like the robots from your Vault. You're smart enough not to blame them for what happened, and you want to find out who was actually behind it; you know that you have no reason to act like this around Penny."

"I-I know, but..." Summer began, trailing off as she swallowed at the lump in her throat.

"If it helps, try to forget that she's a machine," Asra offered, making Summer nod her head slowly. "Just pretend that she preserved her life through some sort of cryogenic chamber, or her Semblance, or something."

Summer nodded again, narrowing her eyes as she mulled it over. "That... might work," Summer said, her voice still quiet. "For a while, at least. Thank you, Asra," Summer added, smiling at Asra.

Asra returned the smile, then leaned in to kiss Summer on the lips. Before Summer could try to beckon out Asra's tongue, the cat-eared Faunus pulled back, a light blush settling on her features. "That'll do, then," Asra whispered into Summer's ear, making the wolf Faunus shiver. "I'll be back before long, hopefully. Just in case, though, I sent Rhonwen a map of where I'm likely to travel. If you finish fixing up that car, and it's been a couple weeks since we last spoke, feel free to come find me, okay?" Asra asked, smiling at Summer's serious nod.

"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Summer asked, drawing a laugh from Asra as she stooped to finish tying her boots.

"I've been doing this for nearly a decade, Summer," Asra said, winking at the younger woman. "I've got everything, trust me."

"I just want to make sure you come back safe," Summer said, her voice turning into a mumble halfway through her sentence. Asra laughed again as Summer blushed, her tail swishing erratically. "Is there anything I can do for you? I mean, to make sure you come back."

Asra met Summer's eyes again, a devious smirk settling on her face. "Well, you could give me your panties," Asra practically purred, causing Summer to blush and pale at the same time.

"Wh-wh-what?" Summer stammered out, blinking rapidly as she stumbled back half a step. "Wh-why would I d-do that?"

Asra laughed again. "It was a joke, Summer," Asra said once her laughter had faded to chuckling. "Although, it might not be next time," Asra purred, making Summer's blush deepen dramatically. "Now I see why Rhonwen does this so much. You look so adorable when you're blushing, Summer."

Summer's blush only deepened further as she leveled a scowl at Asra, her lips settling into a pout without her knowing. Before long, she let out a sigh and dropped her scowl for a worried expression, taking a step towards Asra and catching the cat-eared Faunus's lips with her own. "I'm going to miss you," Summer mumbled, resting her forehead against Asra's.

"And I'll miss you," Asra replied, nuzzling her cheek against Summer's briefly before her back arched and she let out an audible moan, the moon's light beginning to flow into her and grant her strength, speed, and energy. "Well, I guess it's time for me to leave," Asra said, planting another quick peck on Summer's lips. "I'll be back before long, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Summer said, smiling faintly as Asra turned and began to jog south, building up speed on the roughly shod streets of Yang's Rest until she was moving at a full sprint. Summer watched until Asra disappeared from sight, plumes of dust and dirt following in the woman's wake.

Summer let out a sad sigh and shook her head, turning to head back to her own home, only to see Penny standing nearby. Summer swallowed nervously as Penny noticed her attention and started walking over, mentally preparing herself for what was almost certain to be an awkward conversation.

"So," Penny began, her tinny voice stretching the word for an almost absurd length of time, "that was your girlfriend?" Summer nodded, not trusting her voice in that instant. "How long have you two been, you know... together?"

"Today," Summer said, trying to keep her voice even and succeeding. Mostly.

"She's a courier?" Penny asked, drawing another nod from Summer. Penny winced, then let out a sigh. "I'm guessing her Semblance has something to do with speed?"

"She's faster and more energetic in the moonlight," Summer replied. "It's why she's leaving at night."

Penny stood silently for a moment, looking in the direction Asra had left, before she turned back to face Summer. "Rhonwen told me that you're trying to fix an old car so that she doesn't have to make the trip like this anymore. Is that true?"

"Partially," Summer said, shrugging one shoulder. "I'd be working on the car even if she couldn't use it."

"Would you like my help?" Penny asked slowly, trying to gauge Summer's response. "I know a lot about mechanical engineering, and I'm strong enough to lift a car if need be," Penny explained quickly as Summer met her eyes. "I... I'd also like to get to know you better, Summer," Penny added, her voice becoming nearly silent in the fading sunlight. "You like just like Ruby, you know. Right down to the color of your eyes."

Summer remained silent for a moment that seemed to stretch out into infinity for Penny, her anxiety growing with every second that passed until Summer finally said, "I'd appreciate your help with that, Mrs. Rose. It's... it's been a rather trying project, so far."

Penny smiled, relief flowing through her. "You don't have to call me that, you know," Penny said, folding her hands together behind her back. "You can call me Penny, or..." Penny trailed off, and Summer was startled to see the light blush forming on the synthetic skin of Penny's cheeks. "Or you can call me Grandma," Penny mumbled, dipping her head slightly so that Summer couldn't see her blush grow.

Summer blinked in surprise, then nodded her head slowly. "Okay, Penny," Summer said slowly. Penny lifted her head back up to meet Summer's eyes, confusion, relief, and disappointment all showing in her own artificial eyes. "I... think we can make this work."

Penny smiled, then nodded her head gratefully. "Thank you, Summer, for giving an old woman like me a chance," Penny said quietly. The two began to walk silently to Summer's garage, Penny half a step behind Summer so that the young woman could lead the old robot there; it wasn't an arrangement that Summer was particularly happy about.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

 _"Oh, we're not done quite yet," a man said, running a hand through his hair, patches of its original blue poking up through the blood, both dry and fresh, that coated it. "I still need to learn a few more things about you."_

 _He reached down and sank his hand into the hole he'd slashed open in the lion's chest, causing the beast to let out a pained whine, its mane quivering with the pain it was unable to feel. After feeling around for a moment, the man clenched his fist around something, making the lion whine uncomfortably again._

 _"Aha," the man said, rolling the ruined remnants of the creature's organ around in his hand as he withdrew it. "So a Feral can feel something, even through the haze. It seems you've kept a degree of your sentience, too. Remarkable."_

 _As the man leaned in close to monitor the Feral's breathing with his ear, the beast snapped its jaws at him, trying to take his life while it still could; even in its current state, it was able to tell that the man in front of it was even less natural than itself. Unfortunately for it, the man was prepared, his hand moving so swiftly that it left an afterimage behind it; the man's fist rammed into the lion's jaw, snapping its mouth shut and breaking its neck._

 _As the lion's life faded, it heard the man say, "Oh, damn it. Now look what you made me do. There was so much more I could learn from you." The man sighed as the Feral died on the metal table it was strapped to, running his bloody hand through his hair again. "Oh well. It's not like I'm hurting for candidates over here. Let's see... Ah, yes, that Storm fellow should do nicely."_

Volka's eyes snapped open as she sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she tried to keep her scream from leaving her throat. Nearly hyperventilating, she turned to face Yang's Rest, only barely visible at the very edge of the horizon in the pale moonlight.

"That was too real to just be a dream," Volka mumbled to herself, standing up slowly and taking very deep, shaky breaths. "I need to get back, and fast."

Once the blonde had gathered up her belongings and left a note in her place, telling the caravan where to go from there, Volka left, taking off at a run for Yang's Rest.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Nyahaha! Things are gonna start kicking off soon!

Of course they are. When it rains, it pours.

Well, that was a fun chapter to write. Especially since this wasn't the way I started writing it. Originally, it was set a day after the previous one, but then I realized that I wasn't writing The Bleeding Forest anymore and decided that this would be a better direction to take it.

With this chapter comes a quick little change to the description. It should now say something along the lines of "Seven Old Souls" or something. I don't know, I wrote this bit before changing the description, and I'm sure as fuck not gonna change it now!

Edit: Whoops, completely forgot to put in the song stuff that I'd promised.

Hope of Morning (Icon for Hire) [As the chorus says: _When the hope of morning starts to fade in me / I don't dare let darkness have its way with me. / When the hope of morning makes me worth the fight / I will not be giving in tonight._ ] {It really seems like the type of song that would come out of Weiss's mind if she decided to dedicate a series of songs to a dead rival. Of course, I doubt that's the reason for it existing in our world, but that's its origin here.}

Until next time, everyone!


	7. Chapter 6

Welcome back, everyone.

Nyahaha! It's about damn time you came back! I was getting so bored and lonely sitting here!

... In any case, shall we continue our discussions?

But of course! Hmm... Ah, let's talk about the Ferals and the Ghouls. We haven't covered them yet, have we?

Not in any concrete detail. Nor have we discussed their origins.

Nyahaha! Of course you would want to learn about that. So, let's start with the Ghouls. Disgusting creatures, neh? Rotting Humans, seeking only to consume the flesh of other Humans and kill as many as possible; isn't it amazing what a little Winter can do to them?

Winter? You mean the Maiden?

Not a Maiden anymore! Weiss's powers fell out of here when she was at the epicenter of one of Mistral's warheads, and were corrupted by the powerful mixture of Dust it contained. Now, the power of Winter is little more than a heavy fog to the Faunus who live at the ruins of Beacon City. They do their best to keep Humans from getting into it by maintaining a militarized presence around the city's borders, but every now and then a few get through and turn into the disgusting things.

You find them disgusting? That's rather... odd.

Meh. They were interesting for a while, but there's nothing more I can learn about them. And they kill Humans, which are the most fascinating creatures I've ever seen!

What about the Faunus?

They're basically just Humans, too. They even react to the Maiden's magic in a similar way; granted, it's the Summer they react too, but the fact that they just become boring versions of themselves is just so... _boring_!

I doubt they'd see it as becoming boring. It's far more likely they saw it as an unutterable horror being visited upon them.

Meh. Their reactions were far more interesting before they turned into Ferals.

I see. Shall we move on, then? Before you disgust me any further?

Nyahaha!

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX** (AN: I gotta stop forgetting to bold this.)

Alfred was not having the best morning.

He understood the importance of having guards up on the towers; it was why he'd become one of Yang's Rest's militiamen in the first place. What he didn't understand was why he was called on at the last minute to fill in for someone else.

Alfred let out a long, weary sigh, and ran a hand through his thick, long, vibrant red hair, exposing one of the oddly pointed ears that he had grown it out to hide. He blinked drowsily, his deep purple eyes lending a softness to his already feminine features. His lips were curled up in what he thought was a scowl, but what most people would call a pout. Even his attire lent him an odd sort of femininity; he'd chosen his richly purple shirt because it made much of his shoulders, but it bagged out over his slender chest, lending him the appearance of breasts he did not have, and his black leather trousers were tight enough to highlight the bulge at his crotch, but also made his decidedly well-muscled legs and his wide hips look very womanly.

Over his shoulder he'd slung the nylon harness of a simple carbine rifle, an older model that still had an Adamantine dampener worked into the barrel. It was fitted with an equally simple scope, letting him look at targets even further away than his already sharp vision let him. Gripped in his right hand was another scope, one of the surplus models for the sidearms the militiamen typically had; for Alfred, whose vision was sharp enough to let him count the spots on a ladybug more than thirty feet away, even the simple 3x zoom of the pistol scope was enough to let him look at absurdly far-away sights with nearly perfect clarity.

Letting out a long yawn, he cast his sleepy gaze out over the eastern side of town, looking past it to face the wilds of the Wasteland. Just before the horizon was a group of traders and merchants, camped out and sleeping peacefully, something that Alfred with very envious of. He'd been tracking the single member of that group who'd started running at Yang's Rest for nearly an hour at this point, watching the small dot slowly grow in his vision until it became oddly familiar to him.

Frowning, he raised his scope to his eye, only to blink in surprise when it turned out to be Volka Locke. As his frown deepened, he lowered the scope, mulling over the look of exhaustion and panic that had settled over the blonde woman's features.

Judging that he had close to twenty minutes before the founder made it to town, Alfred let out a sigh and began to descend the wooden ladder built into the tower. "Figures," Alfred grumbled under his breath, his voice almost shockingly deep and masculine compared to his extremely feminine appearance. "Can't even claim to have the shittiest start today."

Before fifteen minutes had passed, he'd managed the short distance to the general store, bought a couple bottles of dirty water, and brought them back to his post. Granted, it wasn't actually dirty; it had been filtered of solid contaminants, but there was still a trace amount of radiation in it, radiation that he knew Volka would be wanting after running that distance.

The trip up his assigned tower's ladder had cost him another minute, but he knew where Volka would come into town at the end of it, and the jump down from the tower took only a second, his Aura muting the shock of landing into something he could easily tolerate. Jogging at a steady lope that covered a lot of ground quickly, Alfred took off in Volka's direction, still holding the two bottles of water.

Volka was out of breath when he managed to catch her, and too tired to actually be surprised by Alfred's presence. He handed her one of the bottles of water, and she chugged it down in a hurry, only pausing once when she was halfway through to take several deep breaths.

"Thanks, Alfred," Volka panted out as she handed him the now-empty bottle. He nodded at her and passed her the second.

"Two caps," Alfred said once Volka had finished off the second bottle. She was already starting to react to the radiation in it, her energy returning as her body began metabolizing the small amount of the mutative substance.

Volka chuckled, rolling her shoulders as she passed the second bottle back to him. "Mind if I get it to you later?" Volka asked, turning back to face the city, a deep frown creasing her face. "Kinda in a hurry, here."

"I know you're good for it," Alfred said, nodding at her again. He turned around and began walking back to his post, waving at her without looking at her. "Luck," he offered, making Volka chuckle again.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Gunfire chattered out of Storm's rifle in a burst, the low pockets of thunderous sound feeling like a physical pressure against his ears more than he actually heard him. Not for the first time, the black-haired man lamented the fact that his ears always wound up getting more sensitive while he slept.

His target turned into blue mist before the Dust-propelled rounds could hit, sailing through the mist and the wooden wall behind it with ease; Storm winced and grimaced, hoping that no one was on the street by his home. He dove to one side as the mist gathered next to him, coalescing into a man wearing a bloodied lab coat with a yellow 22 on the left breast. The man drove what looked to be a ridiculously large scalpel at Storm, only for him to put his rifle in the way.

Steel met steel in a flurry of azure and alabaster sparks, and Storm drew his sword from its sheath built into his rifle in a flourish, forcing the doctor away from him.

"So," Storm began, twirling his sword in his left hand as he raised his assault carbine in his right. "You wanna tell me who the fuck you are?" The man merely smiled, running a hand through his blood-soaked blue hair before turning back into mist. Storm clicked his tongue disparagingly as the mist surged around him again. "Fine, then," Storm said, letting out an aggrieved sigh. "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Dust, woven into the threads wrapped around his sword's grip, lit up grey and yellow as Storm drew upon the power of his namesake, conjuring a cyclone around him that pulled the mist his foe had become. After three seconds of letting him spin, Storm sent a surge of Lightning through the air, drawing a pained grunt from the doctor as he reformed from the mist.

"So, I'm going to ask again," Storm said calmly, twirling his sword again as he pointed his rifle at the doctor once more. "Who the fuck are you?"

The man laughed weakly, staggering to his feet and running his hand through his bloody hair again. "I suppose you've earned that much, haven't you?" the man asked quietly, his lazy smile made dangerous by the immense focus in his stare. "My name is Douglas Schnee."

Storm froze for an instant, but that instant was all Douglas needed. A section of thread in the Vault 22 doctor's coat emitted white light as Douglas pulled on the Dust it contained, conjuring a thick block of Ice around Storm's rifle and hand.

"Fuck!" Storm hissed, lashing out with his sword as Douglas lunged at him again. The doctor turned into mist only briefly, just long enough to dodge Storm's clumsy swing, then jabbed his scalpel at the former caravan guard. Storm's Aura took the brunt of the hit, turning what was left of the stab into kinetic energy that sent him stumbling away.

Feeling his back press up against the wall and seeing Douglas raise his hand, his sleeve alight with white light once more, made Storm sigh dejectedly. He spun around, slamming his ice-encased rifle into the thin wooden wall and shattering both the wood and the ice; following through his momentum, Storm fell onto his side and rolled out of his house onto the roughly-shod street just outside. He rose up into a crouch just in time to take a barrage of icicles to the face, sending him flying backwards once more.

Storm's PIP-Boy belched out an alert that his Aura was below thirty percent, which only made Douglas grin. "Ah, fuck," Storm mumbled, shifting his grip and letting go of his sword so he could fire his assault carbine at Douglas. His rifle chattered with thunder as two of the shots slammed into the doctor, knocking him away until he turned into blue mist again. "You know, that's getting really fucking annoying!" Storm shouted as he rose to his feet, the mist swirling around him. Storm glanced at his sword briefly, his lips twisting into a snarl as he saw that Douglas was getting between him and his weapon.

As Douglas reformed again, lunging at Storm with his scalpel, a veritable storm of metal balls slammed into his side, knocking him away from the militiaman and wreaking havoc on his Aura. Douglas turned into mist again as his own PIP-Boy screamed out its warning and Storm turned to look at his savior, a grin stealing his frown's place as he saw Volka running in.

Storm lunged for his sword as Volka snapped her own back into its melee form and swung at the mist, letting out an annoyed grunt as her sword passed through it without hitting anything solid. The Dust in the grip lit up as Storm drew on it again, sending a wide pulse of golden electricity into the mist with a swing of his blade; Douglas re-coalesced again, gritting his teeth against the pain of the electricity.

The doctor's brown eyes flashed blue, and he swept his hand at Volka as she let out a cry and swung her sword at him in an overhead arc; tendrils of sickly blue light flew from his palm and bashed Volka away, sending her flying until she slammed into the wall of a nearby house. She rose to her feet, using her sword as a crutch for a brief moment as Storm opened fire on Douglas again, forcing the man to turn back into mist.

Before Storm could electrocute him again, the Douglas mist flew away in a loose cloud, sailing south above the rooftops. Storm watched him go, blinking rapidly as his adrenaline faded and his early start to the day started catching up with him.

Storm groaned, sheathing his sword back into his rifle so he could rub at his forehead. "Thanks for the save, boss," Storm panted at Volka as she stumbled over to him, her legs starting to rebel against her in protest to the sheer distance she'd traveled so far. "I'd've been sunk without you."

"No problem," Volka said, glancing at Storm with a frown before she turned her gaze back to the swiftly retreating mist.

"For the record," Storm added, scowling at the blonde, "we're still not square."

Volka merely grunted, not wanting to talk about _that_ subject quite yet.

"Volka!" Volka turned to see Summer running up to her, a worried look on her face. She was still clad in her pajamas, having draped her cloak over her and hastily shoved her shoes on once she heard the commotion. "What was that just now?" Summer asked, glancing up at the mist only briefly.

"Something bad," Volka said, grimacing. "All I know is he wanted to kidnap Storm."

"Whoa, what?" Storm asked, giving Volka a bewildered look. "How do you know that? Hell, _I_ don't know that."

Volka sighed, then shook her head. "I've been having nightmares recently," Volka began, wincing when she saw the skeptical look on Storm's face. "He's been in them, typically dissecting people while ranting about wanting to learn more about Human determination or some other nonsense."

Storm let out a deep sigh, rubbing at his forehead again. "Damn it," Storm mumbled, looking up to meet Volka's eyes. "Much as I dislike you, boss, I know you aren't a liar. So, tell me, why the _fuck_ would you be having these dreams?"

"Dust, how should I know?" Volka snapped, glaring at Storm.

"Uh, guys?" Summer asked, wincing as she felt their heated glares fall squarely on her. "Shouldn't we, you know, chase the bad guy? Or maybe trying to catch Rhonwen, since she's chasing him?"

"What?" Volka asked.

"Oh, yeah," Storm said, bonking the heel of his palm against his forehead. "That guy called himself Douglas Schnee."

"What?!"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxX

Penny woke up to the sound of someone rooting around in the room next to hers. It took her mere milliseconds to remember that she was not in her room at her home, but instead in the third bedroom of the house that Rhonwen and Summer shared. Realizing that the sound was probably normal, Penny decided to ignore it and start stretching.

Now, with a Human or a Faunus, the act of stretching out in the morning was usually to get your muscles warmed up and to get all the kinks that a night of sleeping in an awkward position could give you. For Penny, the stretching served a different purpose: she wanted to make sure that her body wasn't going to start degrading at some point, since she had a finite amount of replacement parts that she could swap in. Regular checks on the joints and motors, as well as regular maintenance of her synthetic skin, was something that Penny had started doing in the first decade after the bombs had dropped.

She was quick about it, running through the routine of stretches in less than fifteen seconds, her joints and limbs moving soundlessly beneath her skin. Penny nodded to herself as the last part of the routine, making sure her neck joints were working properly, and then walked out of the room, her eyes taking in every last detail without moving. She corrected that as soon as she noticed it, making sure her eyes did move to track anything she took particular interest in; Penny had realized fairly quickly after she'd been first built and "woken up" that people were more likely to treat her as a person if she acted more like a Human, but it had been decades since she'd had so much as an extended conversation with someone, so the social niceties that she'd memorized long ago seemed foreign to her.

And now that she was staying with her lover's descendant, Summer, Penny realized that she needed to stay away from what her original creator had called "the uncanny valley"; seeming more robotic would only make Summer dislike her, while seeming more Human would allow Penny to stay friendly, if not familial, with her. Penny tried to keep that in mind as she walked down the stairs, trailing the fingers of one hand over the guard rail despite her lack of need for the assistance it provided.

The dining room, which was the first place Penny went to, was empty. She felt sure that whoever was rooting around in the bedroom upstairs would come there soon enough. Nearly a minute of patient waiting later, Penny was proven right.

Summer Dream was in a rush, her Brotherhood sniper rifle slung over her back by its leather strap and her pistol resting in its holster at her hip. She had gotten dressed after her brief attempt to follow Rhonwen as she chased her father, putting on a black blouse with silver buttons shaped like crosses and a pair of black trousers lined with a pattern of red rose petals trailing along the outside of each leg. She'd opted for her weather-proofed red cloak, and its hood rested limply behind her neck as she ran towards the front door.

"Summer?" Penny asked, getting the young woman to stop with her hand on the doorknob, her lupine tail thrashing irritably. "What's wrong?"

"Long story," Summer said. "Short version: Rhonwen's father showed up, we think he's possessed by something called the Shade," Summer began, not noticing it when Penny seemed to freeze at her statement, "she's chasing him, Volka's trying to catch up to her, and Storm and I are going to Vault 4 to look for a fairy tale book with Summer Rose's notes in it."

Penny continued to stare at Summer for a moment, then said, "Vault 4 is miles from here. How will you get there?"

Summer shrugged. "We'll walk when we can't run."

"How about I drive you there?" Penny asked, bowing her head slightly. "I think there are a few things we need to talk about on the way."

"Sure, whatever gets us there faster," Summer said, opening the door and stepping through it in a hurry, motioning for Penny to follow with the same haste.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Rhonwen hissed as she tried to keep up with her father, her legs burning with exertion. 'When this is over, I'm gonna take up jogging,' Rhonwen thought irritably, trying to keep herself from thinking about how much her legs hurt. Her doctor's coat, a bold 22 emblazoned in bright yellow over the left breast, flared behind her as she ran, revealing her white silk blouse and brown trousers to anyone who could see her.

Rhonwen had only seen Douglas use his Semblance a handful of times, but she'd recognize the oddly blue fog anywhere; seeing her father use his Semblance to slip behind a fallen bookcase to help shove it off of the person it had landed on was one of her earliest memories, after all.

The Schnee had no clue how long she'd been running; all she knew was that losing her father now meant that she would likely never find him again. At some point, Volka had started running beside her, which she found odd; hadn't Volka been guarding a caravan?

In the end, it was a very small stone that forced Rhonwen to abandon the chase; and by "abandon the chase", I mean "fall flat on her face".

"Ow," Rhonwen moaned as she sat up, pulling her legs beneath her. She reached up to feel at her nose, wincing when she felt the blood dribbling from it. "Damn it," she muttered as Volka came to a stop in front of her. "That's broken."

"You okay?" Volka asked, gasping for breath. She nearly collapsed when she stepped back over to Rhonwen, her own legs failing her.

"No," Rhonwen muttered, glaring at the blue mist as it scurried further towards the horizon. "He's getting away."

Volka grimaced, glancing over her shoulder at the fog. "I don't think we can catch up to him like this," Volka said, clenching her jaw when she felt the muscles in her legs begin to spasm. "Dust, I don't know if I can manage the walk back to town like this," the blonde mumbled, sitting down and trying to massage her thigh, only to let out a quiet squeak at the pain that lanced through her leg. "You wouldn't happen to have anything irradiated on you, would you?" Volka asked, drawing Rhonwen's attention to her.

"Excuse me?" Rhonwen asked, blinking at Volka.

"You know, for my Semblance?" Volka asked, tilting her head at the young woman. "Wait, you do know what my Semblance is, right?" When Rhonwen merely shook her head, Volka frowned and mumbled, "I could've sworn I told you at some point."

Rhonwen sighed, rubbing at one of her eyes with the back of her hand. "Hey, hold my hand for a second?" Rhonwen asked, the change of subject further confusing Volka.

"Why?" Volka asked, extending her hand anyways.

Rhonwen grabbed it, the placed her other hand on her nose. After taking a deep breath, Rhonwen shifted her fingers, letting out a yowl of pain and tightening her grip on the blonde's hand as she realigned her broken nose. Panting, she let go of Volka's hand, nodding her thanks towards the older woman.

"Um, what did you just do?" Volka asked, concerned.

"My nose broke when I fell," Rhonwen said, wincing as she stood back up. Her nose was still bleeding, so she tore a scrap of fabric off of the left wrist of her coat and used that to stem the flow of blood. "It was misaligned, so I fixed it. Now come on, let's get back to town."

"Uh, I'm not sure if I can," Volka said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "My legs don't seem to be working right now."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You're kidding me," Summer said, staring at Penny. The two of them, along with Storm, were in Penny's car as she drove it along the narrow dirt road west of Yang's Rest. They'd barely gone a mile before Penny had started talking about Summer's silver eyes. "You're saying I've got some sort of second Semblance?"

"No, it's..." Penny trailed off, letting out a frustrated sigh. "It's hard to explain without using the word 'magic'. Ruby never really talked about it, even after I saw her use it on multiple occasions, so I had to piece most of this together myself. The only thing she ever said was that it was an old power that could only be present in people born with silver eyes."

"Wait, wait, wait, I'm lost," Storm piped up from the backseat, leaning between the two front seats so he didn't have to speak up. "So, her eyes let her emit some sort of funky light that hits the Grimm like a freight train? Why?"

"I don't know," Penny said. "We've all had our theories, but, like I said, Ruby kept it to herself. She may have told Summer - our daughter, Summer, I mean, not you, Summer - but I don't know for sure."

"So, what, I'm supposed to just pour my feelings out through my eyes and see what happens?" Summer asked sullenly, her brow furrowed as she stared at Penny. "Because that seems like a good way for things to go wrong."

"How so?" Penny asked, glancing at Summer for a second before turning her eyes back to the road.

"From everything I've heard, every story and bit of history I've read, they made it seem like Ruby was a very positive person," Summer said. When Penny nodded, she continued, "That's not exactly the kind of person I am."

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"Well, my therapist back in Vault 4 said that he was considering diagnosing me as a sociopath," Summer said, making Penny gasp in shock and Storm give her an odd look. "I said he was considering it, not that he did."

"Wonderful," Storm muttered, sitting back down in his seat. "Just what I've always wanted: trapped in a metal box speeding along faster than I can run with one woman who's a psycho and another who's one magnet away from going psycho."

Summer turned her head to glare at him, only for her mouth to quirk in a smile when she saw him give her a wink and a lazy smirk. "I'll have you know that magnets were never a problem for me," Penny grumbled, keeping her eyes on the road. "At least, not like that."

"So, what ended up happening with your therapist?" Storm asked, only to wince and add, "Before the, er, recent events, I mean."

"Oh, he died a long time ago," Summer said, sitting back in her seat and turning her head to the ceiling. "Bled out on the floor of his office when I was twelve."

"Wait, what?" Penny asked, glancing at Summer. "Why?"

"He tried to rape me, so I bit down," Summer said with a shrug, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Only time I've ever tasted someone else's blood," Summer added, completely ignorant of the shocked stares that Penny and Storm were giving her. "You probably shouldn't take his diagnosis too seriously. He wasn't quite right in the head either."

"Holy fuck, Summer," Storm breathed, almost afraid to raise his voice. "You were nearly raped?"

"Wasn't the first time, either," Summer said, still looking up at the ceiling. " _That_ was a few months earlier; it's why I was in therapy in the first place."

"Dust," Penny mumbled quietly, shaking her head.

"How the fuck can you stand even being around guys after that shit?" Storm asked, worry creasing his brow. "I mean, shit, if I was you I'd be freaking out just from being in the same car as me."

Summer shrugged again, turning to look at Storm. "I've got a bit of a touch phobia when it comes to men, but other than that I'm okay," Summer said. "Just don't try to hug me or something and we'll be fine."

Penny decided that it would be best if she didn't try to process this conversation immediately, so she filed it away for later. In doing so, she was able to pay more attention to the road, and realized that they were coming up on a small camp fairly quickly. "You expecting any guests at Yang's Rest?" Penny asked, making Storm blink at her.

"Oh, you mean the caravan?" Storm asked after a moment, needing the time to wrap his head around the change of subject. "Yeah, Volka was guarding the- oh, shit, she just left them behind, didn't she? Can you pull to a stop and let me out?"

"What?" Summer asked, frowning at Storm. "Why?"

"Because they need the help," Storm said, unbuckling the seat belt that Penny had insisted upon using. "Without V or someone guarding them, they're sitting ducks if any bandit or Grimm shows up."

"Got it," Penny said, slowing down as she approached the caravan.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I'm telling you, I'll be fine if you just get me some radiation," Volka groaned as Rhonwen gently laid the blonde on one of the cots in the medical clinic in Yang's Rest. Rhonwen had needed to practically carry Volka, making for some rather slow going to get back.

"In my professional opinion," Rhonwen began, turning away from Volka to look through her medical supplies, "your legs are more fucked than I was the night before my last birthday. That's saying something, right there."

"It's saying a few things," Volka mumbled under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing, nothing," Volka said quickly, managing an awkward grin as she waved her hands in front of herself apologetically.

Rhonwen shook her head and sighed, pulling a bottle of pills labeled "Med-X" from a cabinet. "I don't know exactly how your Semblance works, but from what you've been babbling on the way here, I'd surmise that it speeds up your metabolism at a rate proportional to how much radiation you've taken in," Rhonwen thought out loud as she passed a pair of pills to Volka, who swallowed them without any ceremony. Or water. "The only painkillers we have are Med-X, which is one of the most addictive pharmaceuticals I've ever administered, and from the way you didn't even wait for a glass of water, I'm guessing you have a bit of a problem. I will not offer you anything that speeds up your metabolism until we either get better painkillers or until you can stand without feeling any pain."

Volka blinked at her, then stared at the hand her pills had briefly been in. "Ah, fuck me," Volka whined, letting herself fall back onto the cot. She closed her eyes, her impatience having long ago taught her that sleeping was often the best way to pass the time.

"Well, since you asked so _kindly_." Volka's eyes shot back open at Rhonwen's breathy voice in her ear, staring wide-eyed at the Schnee who was mere inches from her.

"I-I told you I'm not l-like that," Volka stammered quickly, trying to back away from the nymphomaniac doctor and only succeeding in dangling her arm over the side of the cot.

"And you should know by now that I'm not going to molest someone," Rhonwen spat, her voice dry and harsh enough to make Volka flinch. "If I want sex, I'll find someone willing to fuck me. I'm not going to turn into some rapist just because you said no."

"Rhonwen-" Volka began, only to be cut off by the doctor's heated glare.

"Shut up," Rhonwen growled, her blue eyes seeming to spark with her anger. "I'm pissed off enough without you being an ignorant bitch. You know that was my father, right?" Rhonwen asked, sitting down at one of the only desks in the building. "You said that he attacked Storm out of nowhere, that he just woke up and my father was trying to kill him. Is that true?"

Volka frowned, worried, but her voice was firm when she said, "Yes."

"And you said you've been having nightmares about the things he's been doing," Rhonwen continued, seemingly ignoring Volka's statement. "That he's been vivisecting people, torturing them to see how far he can go before they break down and die. Is that true?" Rhonwen asked, her voice growing ever harsher.

"Yes," Volka said, swallowing as she felt the Med-X start to kick in. The pain in her legs subsided, fading to a dull ache as the rest of the little pains she felt disappeared entirely. "You saw the blood in his hair, right?"

"How could I not?!" Rhonwen yelled, wheeling around to face Volka, her eyes burning with rage. She stopped herself, closed her eyes, and took a series of long, deep breaths to calm herself down. "Just... just shut up and let me talk, okay?" Rhonwen asked, turning back around so that she didn't have to look at Volka. "Don't talk unless you're answering a question, or I won't be able to tell you what I need to."

Volka swallowed again, opening her mouth to speak. She snapped it shut before she could utter so much as a "yes", however, and instead just sat silently, staring at the back of Rhonwen's head.

"For about a week before I was exiled from Vault 22, there was a series of 'accidents'," Rhonwen began, spitting out the word like it was a piece of rotten meat. "There were nearly sixty injuries as a result of these 'accidents', but the only person who... who died as a result of them was my mother. It was almost too much work for us medical workers to keep up with. And then, after one last 'accident' that broke my friend's leg, my father disappeared from the Vault, and there were no more accidents. My exile was a result of a fight that some idiots started after that; they were smart enough to figure out the connection between my father and what had been happening, but not smart enough to think that I wasn't involved."

Volka remained silent, trying to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes. 'Why do these things keep happening to people?' Volka thought bitterly when Rhonwen paused, taking deep breaths again. 'What is it about the Wasteland that does this?'

"I told Summer all of this just last night," Rhonwen continued, snapping Volka out of her thoughts. "And she told me about an old fairy tale, about the thing that created the Grimm. The Shade."

Volka's blood felt like ice in her veins. Flashes of images filled her mind, of blood, and death, and war. She saw herself digging a hand through a fallen man's intestines, watched him scream with a smile on her face; she saw herself pull out the man's still beating heart and crush it right before his red eyes, the blood splattering on his short hair, salt and pepper covered with red. She shook her head vigorously, almost giving herself whiplash from how hard she was shaking; her vision ended up blurry and spotted with swimming dots after she finished purging the old memories from her head with the vicious motion.

"You said that my father's eyes turned blue during the fight, right? The same color as his Aura?" Rhonwen asked, helping snap Volka out of it.

"Y-yes," Volka said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"So, assuming there's some truth to the old story, why would you be having dreams about someone possessed by such a creature?" Rhonwen asked, turning to face Volka. The blonde shook her head slowly, rubbing a hand against her forehead. "Well, Volka?"

"I..." Volka said, only to sigh and shake her head again. "I wish I knew. You know I'm an amnesiac, right?" Volka asked, making Rhonwen nod. "Maybe it has something to do with that?"

"You seem distressed," Rhonwen noted, causing Volka to bite her lower lip and look away. "Mind telling me exactly why?"

The silence stretched between them for what felt like a long time to Volka, only for her to break the silence. "The... the thing's name... it shook something loose in my head. I've got... memories where I didn't have them before, I guess."

"Tell me," Rhonwen said, only for Volka to shake her head fiercely.

"No," Volka said, swallowing at the bile rising in her throat. "They're... awful. I don't think I want to remember, anymore." Volka stared Rhonwen straight in the eyes, and the white-haired woman gasped as she saw the blonde's eyes flash yellow for a brief instant. "I don't want to remember those things, Rhonwen. Please, don't make me... don't make me think about them."

Volka rolled over onto her side as she felt tears begin to spill from her eyes, hiding her weakness from someone she _should_ be friends with. "I'm sorry," Volka mumbled, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Penny asked as Summer led her down the long halls of Vault 4. The metal walls and floors were covered in dried blood, most of which was pooled around the slowly decaying bodies wearing blue jumpsuits; the yellow 4's that marked their breasts and backs had mostly been stained when they had been killed by the servitor robots, which stood motionless in the halls as if standing guard those they had slain.

Summer remained silent, which Penny took to be a bad sign. Repressing the urge to sigh, Penny browsed through her files, opening a schematic of the Vault 4 servitor robots without it taking up her vision; it was a feature she'd demanded Ruby implement within the first month of her being rebuilt.

The servitors were humanoid, the steel of their armor plating, vaguely reminiscent of the knights of old, having been made extra-shiny due to specific Dust treatments; two hundred years ago, Penny had assumed this would help the people being sent into Vault 4 acclimate to their presence, and had told Jaune Arc as much when she was asked to go over the Vault plans with him and Pyrrha. Some of them had been fitted with slender blades, others with rotating guns, but they had been specifically programmed to never harm anyone wearing a Vault-Tec jumpsuit. What's more, Penny had insisted that each servitor be programmed individually instead of linked to a grid that they would receive their programming from; it would be far more difficult to hack every robot simultaneously to achieve the exact thing she was seeing than to simply work over a grid.

Going over the schematics made something very, _very_ clear to Penny: there was no way this hadn't been deliberate.

Penny kept her eyes on Summer the whole time she processed the information, and was thus aware of the exact second that Summer started shaking. "Summer?" Penny asked, afraid to put her hand on the young woman for fear of what the touch of a machine would do to her. When Summer didn't react, Penny repeated herself, saying Summer's name louder each time. "Summer. Summer. Summer!"

Finally, Penny grew so worried that she sped up and stopped in front of the young Faunus, placing her body directly in Summer's path. "Summer, please, just stop for a moment," Penny said as Summer came to a stop. Her silver eyes seemed dim and unfocused, and her body shook like she was freezing. "I know you aren't alright, so don't bother trying to lie to me."

"I'll be fine," Summer mumbled, starting to shuffle forwards again, only to bump into Penny. Her eyes filled with fear for a brief moment, only to become completely empty of emotion again soon after. "Let's keep moving before I fall asleep," Summer added, her voice seeming stronger than before. "Woke up too early today."

"Excuse me?" Penny asked as Summer walked past her. Realizing that it was pointless to just stand there, Penny started following Summer again, making sure she stayed only a couple feet away from the young woman. "What do you mean by that?"

"I get like this when I'm tired," Summer said, her voice utterly monotonous. "I'll get some sleep when we get back."

"You start shaking when you're tired?" Penny asked, frowning.

"I'm not shaking," Summer mumbled, fighting the urge to swallow at the lump that formed in her throat as they walked past another set of corpses, much too small to have been adults. Their faces were too obscured by blood and bullet holes for Summer to recognize any of them.

"Yes, you are," Penny said, glancing at the bodies strewn about. "Summer, what's wrong?"

"Let's just keep..." Summer began, only to stop when her voice cracked. She clenched her jaw, closing her eyes briefly before saying, "Let's just keep moving. Only one more staircase between us and the firing range."

"You miss them." Penny's statement made Summer whirl to face her, anguish and self-hate displayed clearly in her silver eyes. "You don't want to admit it, but you miss them, even the ones who hurt you," Penny said, wishing that she could just hug her lover's descendant instead of beating her over the head with words; but, as she judged that to have a high chance of triggering a PTSD episode, Penny did the only thing she could. "You wish they were still alive, that you could have saved them. Don't you?"

Summer closed her eyes and shook her head, turning away from Penny so she wouldn't see her cry. "No," she croaked, the tears rolling down her cheeks a bald testament to her lie. "I just wish that I didn't care so much."

"Summer," Penny began, only to sigh. "It wasn't your fault," she said a moment later.

"Wasn't my fault?" Summer asked, a sound that was half-chuckle, half-sob escaping her throat. "Of course it's my fault. I could've stopped this before... before..."

"Summer," Penny began, only for Summer to cut her off.

"Instead of going straight to the Overseer's office, I decided that everything was too fucked to bother trying to fix it," Summer spat, clenching her eyes tightly shut. "I went to the medical center to steal medicine, I went to the girls' quarters to find my cousin and take her with me; I should've just gone to fix the problem instead of trying to escape while everyone was dying around me!" Another sob escaped the young woman's throat, and she cradled her left arm with her right, looking like nothing so much as a scared little girl in that moment. "I should have died with them. Just another Vault 4 civilian killed by a robot."

It took Penny only half a second to determine which path had the best chance of snapping Summer out of it, and another two seconds to steel her heart against it. She stepped around Summer, made sure that the young woman was facing her, and slapped her. Hard.

The _thwack_ of synthetic skin meeting flesh rebounded through the otherwise silent halls as Summer stood there, too stunned to actually process what was happening. Her cheek began to turn red, the shape of Penny's hand appearing on her face in mere moments.

"If you want to die by a robot," Penny was trying to growl, though it came out much sadder than she intended, "then, by all means, just tell me. I'll hate every last _second_ of my existence afterward, but I will grant you your wish."

Summer remained motionless, too shocked to actually be scared for a long moment; when that moment passed, absolute fear numbed her mind. She staggered away from Penny, her breaths coming in short, ragged gasps, her silver eyes wide with panic. And still, she cried, though tears were not the only things flowing from her eyes; silver sparks flew from them, the ancient magic triggered by her panic.

Penny's eyes widened as well; this had not been the reaction she'd been hoping for. "Summer?" Penny asked, staring deep into the young woman's eyes. "Just... just calm down, okay?"

Summer did not calm down; at least, not right away. Nor had she even heard Penny's words; well, she heard them, but she didn't understand them.

She was too deeply gripped by her Semblance.

After five minutes of apparent time, Summer began to calm down. She tried to take a deep breath, only to nearly panic again when she found her lungs so slow to respond; she would have screamed if she could have, but she felt like she was fighting against a wall of molasses just trying to raise her lips. She saw Penny's lips move in slow motion, barely recognizing the fact that they were moving at all.

And through it all, she felt a thick fatigue begin to settle over her, and a mildly unpleasant warmth begin to make itself known at the back of her skull.

Summer thought back to the first time she'd ever felt anything like that before, and realized that it first happened just a few days after she'd turned twelve. She, and half a dozen other kids her age, had been taken to the Vault's firing range for their first lesson in aiming a gun. Summer had managed to hit the bull's eye of every target with every weapon she'd been allowed to use, all after only one practice shot with each gun. By the end of the day, Summer had felt tired and unbearably warm, and had relished the cold shower she'd taken almost immediately after her day's classes were through; she'd stayed under the water so long that Layla had begun to worry about her, given the Faunus's dislike of getting her tail wet.

And then Summer remembered the way she'd found out about her Semblance only a week ago, when she'd been thrown a rifle and pointed it at a Nevermore. She had been exhilarated at the chance to shoot such a magnificently crafted weapon, and wanted to make sure she took down the threat to her, and to the people who had already given her so much, in a single shot.

Both times, she had been released from the slowed time by allowing herself to lower her weapon, to step away from the thought of shooting the target in front of her. So, she tried to push away her fear and her anger; it was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do.

But she had time. Her Semblance made sure of that.

Though it had taken nearly half an hour on her end to calm herself down, to push away all of the thoughts triggering her adrenaline-filled response to Penny's action, only a few seconds had actually passed.

Summer gasped in a breath, relishing how she could feel it filling her lungs almost instantly. She closed her eyes and merely reveled in the small motions of her body, of her lungs and her heart, of the fingers she stretched and balled into fists at will.

"Summer?" Penny repeated, growing more worried by the second.

"I'm okay," Summer said, enjoying the feeling of her lips moving quickly. "My... my Semblance let's me speed up my perception of time. I'm still learning how to use it, but... I'm okay," Summer repeated, giving Penny a weak smile.

"By... by how much?" Penny asked, almost afraid to learn the answer.

"Hard to tell," Summer said, shrugging, "but I'm pretty sure it was at least twenty minutes for me. Maybe more."

"Oh," Penny said, giving Summer a thin smile. "I remember doing something like that once. I was trying to figure out how to tell Ruby that I wanted a child." Penny's smile grew as she remembered the look on her lover's face, the sheer shock that had turned into the brightest grin she'd ever seen. "I nearly overheated my circuitry because of it."

"Huh," Summer said, tilting her head to one side as she stared at Penny. "I always thought that Ruby would've had to convince you to let her have a kid."

"Nope," Penny practically chirped. "Don't get me wrong: she wasn't against it in the slightest, but I was the one who started that conversation."

"Okay," Summer said, rolling her eyes. "I feel like we should probably get off this topic before you start telling me... inappropriate things."

"Sure," Penny said, extremely relieved that Summer was doing better.

"Oh, and Penny?"

"Yes, Sum-" Penny was cut off, but not because Summer interrupted her; the young woman had wrapped her arms around the sapient robot, giving her a nervous, awkward hug.

"Thank you," Summer mumbled, trying to push away her emotions again before a blush could settle over her. "For helping me out of that."

Penny smiled, loosely wrapping one of her own arms around Summer. "You're welcome," Penny said softly.

"A-and could you not tell anyone about... this?" Summer asked quietly, her blush emerging despite the wall she'd built around her embarrassment. "I d-don't want them to s-see me like... like this."

"Of course, Summer," Penny said, holding her just a bit tighter. "It can be our little secret. I promise."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

It didn't them long to reach the firing range after that, nor did it take Summer long to move them to the armory hidden behind it; she still had the keys, after all. "So, why did we come here?" Penny asked softly, watching Summer walk by the numerous lockers and racks of weapons. "You said we were looking for a book, right?"

"We are," Summer said, glancing over at the lockers as she continued past them. "I kept things in a few of the lockers in here. Sometimes books that I didn't want stolen from me, other times a few extra supplies, wires and circuit boards and the like, for whatever project I was working on at the time." Summer scowled, then shook her head. "A backpack with some clothes and supplies in it, in case I ever got the nerve to walk out."

"This place... it wasn't good to you," Penny mumbled, turning her gaze to the floor. "I wish... I don't know. I wish I could have been here for you."

Summer snorted off a laugh and shook her head. "People are selfish like that," Summer mumbled to herself, trying to keep her voice quiet.

"What do you mean?"

Summer stiffened; evidently, she hadn't been quiet enough. "Damn," Summer muttered quietly, being extra careful to keep her voice low.

"Summer?" Penny asked, frowning at the young woman.

"Um, well," Summer began, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as her cheeks flushed. "It's just... something I've noticed over the years, I guess. People don't usually wish for things to be better; they wish they had the ability to _make_ things better. I tried to... figure out why, a couple times. All I could come up with was that people are selfish. They don't actually want the other person's life to be any better, they just want the credit for _making_ that person's life better."

"Summer... is that what you really think? Of me?" Penny asked, her voice seeming to break, as if with unshed tears.

Summer sighed, shaking her head. "It used to be. Then I met Rhonwen, and Volka, and Asra and Ferrer and everyone else at Yang's Rest. They took me in, helped me, and didn't ask for anything in return. They didn't brag about saving some poor Vault girl, either." Summer turned to face Penny, her face a blank mask except for her silver eyes, which had so many emotions melding within them that it was hard for the robot to tell what she was feeling. "They just helped me. And I helped them without thinking about it. That first night, the broken water purifier that was just sitting on their kitchen table... whether it's fixing something mechanical or working with code, whenever I was feeling distressed, I always started working on something to help calm me down." Summer raised her PIP-Boy, tapping a finger against its metal casing. "There's so much stuff on here that I could have done instead; decrypting old files, restoring damaged logs, just reading through the messages between my ancestors and their friends. But I didn't. I fixed that water purifier instead."

Summer took a deep breath, then shook her head again. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this," Summer mumbled, turning away from Penny and continuing to walk along the rows of lockers.

Before Penny could come up with a response to that, the two of them were taken by surprise by an urgent beep from Summer's PIP-Boy. The message, it turned out, was from Rhonwen, using the group chat client that they'd been using to talk with Asra and Volka at night.

Rhonwen: We lost my father, but we need those notes more than ever

Rhonwen: Meet me at the clinic in 30 and we can head out today.

Summer chuckled mirthlessly, shaking her head as she slid out the compact keyboard nestled in the PIP-Boy's leather case and typed out her reply.

Self: Already there. Penny's helping me look for the book.

Self: Took us less than half an hour in Penny's car.

Rhonwen: You okay?

Self: Been better, but yeah.

Self: See you when we get back.

Rhonwen: Got it.

Rhonwen: Don't leave me waiting too long.

Summer's lips quirked up in a brief smile as she closed the chat log and slid away her keyboard. Her expression quickly turned into a frown as she resumed looking at the lockers, her frown only deepening as she found one of her old "stash" lockers; the sigh Summer let out was very confusing to Penny. She drew a key from one of her satchels and used it to unlock the locker, pointedly ignoring the most obvious object in it as she pulled it open.

The box was small, barely large enough to hold an apple, and it was covered in a thin layer of decorative red paper, roses drawn in patterns on the wrappings in black ink. Next to the box was a shotgun, its barrel having been shortened by a hacksaw some years before; a small case of shotgun shells sat beneath it, the emblem of a red rose falling to pieces marking it as property of Scattered Rose Munitions.

"Guess it wasn't this one," Summer muttered, reaching in to pull out the shotgun and its ammo, ignoring the startled gasp from Penny when she saw it. Summer set the gun at her hip, using a now well-practiced Aura exercise to hold it there without any straps or holsters. She was still learning, and could only barely keep a coin from falling off of her forehead with the exercise, but Summer had an affinity for guns; she felt that if she could manage a coin, she could manage a shotgun.

Summer didn't shut the locker immediately; she couldn't. She stared at the box, unable to ignore it any longer, and let out a deep, heavy sigh.

 _"So, what do you want for your birthday?" Summer asked the young woman sitting next to her. The two of them were on a bed with clean white sheets, the bright yellow 4 emblazoned on them standing out as clearly as blood would; it would have been a lie to say that Summer had never before thought about how ever-present that number was in the Vault, almost like it was meant to be a constant reminder of what the world had been turned into._

 _"Hmm..." Layla said, her lips firmly shut as she tapped a finger against her chin. Summer could see the smile in her cousin's grey eyes, despite the utterly passive expression she wore on her youthful face. "Gee, I'm not quite sure," Layla drawled, shaking her head and causing her artfully curled black hair to sway tantalizingly in the artificial lights. It did not seem to glow red, the way Summer's often did, but she found it attractive nonetheless. Her leg was bound in a metal brace, which had then been wrapped in clean cloth of a variety of colors to keep it more secure._

 _"Oh come on," Summer said, shaking her head with a smile. "You told me months ago that you already knew what you wanted."_

 _Layla giggled, her eyes nearly squinting completely shut with the laugh. "Yeah, but that was months ago!" Layla exclaimed, flopping backwards onto the bed to stare up at the ceiling. She smoothed out her jumpsuit, not comfortable with the way it had settled; this action made her breasts, as small as they were, jiggle in a way that briefly drew Summer's eyes. "I don't know if I want that anymore."_

 _"Come on, just tell me."_

 _"No!" Layla laughed, winking at Summer, who merely rolled her eyes. "It's a bit embarrassing, actually," Layla continued, blushing a bit._

 _"Oh?" Summer asked, a sly smile flitting across her lips. "You know, Layla, we are cousins. I doubt anyone would accept that."_

 _"Oh, gross!" Layla exclaimed, throwing a disgusted look, and a pillow, at Summer as the older woman laughed. "Dust, I would never ask for that!"_

 _Summer was still laughing, but she turned away, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes. "So, why not tell me?" Summer asked, waving her hand in a loose circle to help distract Layla. "It can't be as bad as what I was implying."_

 _Layla let out a huff, then said, "Well, I guess that's true. Okay, I'll tell you."_ _Summer faced her cousin once more, happy that she was at least sharing this with her. "I want a PIP-Boy."_

 _Summer let a moment pass, waiting for Layla to continue, only to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Is that it?" When Layla nodded, Summer cocked her head to one side, her tail swiping back and forth lazily. "You know you're going to get one in a few years, right?"_

 _"I don't want to wait, Summer!" Layla exclaimed, pouting at her cousin. "You have one. Mom and Dad have PIP-Boys. I want one, and I don't want to wait another four years to get one!"_

 _"Hmm..." Summer said, her lips firmly shut as she tapped a finger against her chin. Layla rolled her eyes and let out a huff of annoyance, mock-glaring at her cousin as she imitated her earlier actions. "I might not be able to get you one right away."_

 _"Aw!" Layla was pouting again, but it merely made Summer smile at the young woman._

 _"But," Summer continued, "I might be able to get a special one on reserve for you. There is a Lark model in between users right now, after all, and it is the maintenance department's job to distribute them."_

 _Layla gasped, sitting bolt upright and wrapping Summer in a tight hug. "Really?!" Layla exclaimed, grinning as Summer nodded her head. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"_

 _"I said 'might'," Summer said, making Layla pout again. "But I think Myst owes me enough favors right now that I can manage it."_

"Summer!" Penny's shout, mere inches from her ears, jolted Summer out of the memory she'd been pulled into. She flinched away from the worried robot, blinking rapidly as if waking from a deep sleep. "Dust, Summer, you had me worried," Penny said, putting a hand over where her heart would be as she looked over the young woman. "Are you alright?"

Summer swallowed at the lump forming in her throat, then turned back to the locker and the carefully wrapped PIP-Boy within it. Summer felt tears begin to spill from her eyes as she slammed it shut and locked it again, startling Penny. "No," Summer croaked, her voice weak. "Only two more lockers to check."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Rhonwen let out a soft sigh, leaning back in her seat as she twirled a pencil around her finger. She looked over at Volka, who had been asleep ever since she began getting her memories back; with a quick glance at the clock on her PIP-Boy (the eighth such glance in the last ten minutes), she determined that, yes, it had been over an hour.

Which made it eight in the morning.

Rhonwen sighed again, slumping forward in her seat and setting the pencil down as she rubbed at her forehead. "Why?" she mumbled, cradling her head in both hands. "You were always a good person, Dad. Caring for the sick, healing the injured, helping bring new life into the world... why would you go against all of it?"

The squeak of the door opening snapped Rhonwen out of her thoughts, making her raise her head to look at who it was. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders as she saw Summer and Penny walking into the clinic, and she stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off of her coat just to have something to do with her hands. "Thank fuck you two are back," Rhonwen said softly, striding to the pair to wrap Summer in a brief hug. "I'm sorry you had to go back there for me, Summer."

"I'll be fine, Rhonwen," Summer said, pasting a small smile over her lips as Rhonwen released her. "You know how I am: the moment it's over, I move on."

"Right," Rhonwen said, nodding her head and smiling back at Summer, too distressed to tell that the older woman's smile was strained. "Did... did you find it?"

"Yes," Summer said, pulling a thick book from one of the satchels she wore on her belt. Its binding was worn down from time and use, and its front and back covers had fared little better, but the now pale green front cover still recognizably bore the image of four young maidens, each wearing colors representative of the seasons they were named for; an old story, but one Rhonwen could still remember some of.

Summer walked over to one of the desks in the clinic and set the book down gently, opening it with just as much care. She slowly, gently, slid her hand beneath the first blank page and, using her other hand to keep it from bending too much, slowly turned it to rest on the cover, revealing the half-faded handwriting that covered its other side.

"You know how to take care of old books?" Penny asked, raising one of her eyebrows as Summer sat down in the chair and Rhonwen brought over a pair of stools for them to sit on.

"I'm a bit of a history nerd," Summer mumbled, blushing faintly as she said it. Penny and Rhonwen sat next to her as she read aloud her ancestor's cramped yet precise handwriting, still legible despite the centuries that had gone by.

 _"From what Ruby was willing to tell me, the Shade was a very real being. Odd that it would be in such an old collection of fairy tales, since she and her friends killed it about a decade before I was born. Of course, this isn't the only story about it; there were stories where it died before, and after everything that's been happening lately, I can't help but feel that this is just another one of them. An endless cycle of light and dark destroying each other. The patterns in every story are roughly the same, too._

 _"'One of the world, taken. One of the blood, undone. One of the flora, broken. One of the light, beaten or victorious.'_

 _"One of the world, meaning a warrior whose Semblance carries an element used in one of the naturally occurring types of Dust, or is otherwise linked to the natural world (but not one of the flora; see below). They aren't always killed; sometimes, they're possessed by the Shade, 'taken', as it were. If the pattern holds true, and this isn't just me reading too much into things, Aunt Yang fulfills this role. May she rest in peace._

 _"One of the blood, meaning someone with a well-respected bloodline (alt: investigate possible blood-based Semblances). There are multiple old bloodlines still holding weight in the world: the Schnee, Winter and Weiss; the Arc, Jaune and his parents; the Branwen, though its probably just Qrow left unless Raven managed to fake her death (I doubt it, but weirder things have happened); the Rose, which means me and Mom (though I doubt it'd be her; more later). There's almost too many to list, actually. Huntsmen tend to force their kids to take the same role; I almost feel lucky that I couldn't meet the physical requisites._

 _"One of the flora, meaning one associated with a plant or having some form of plant-based Semblance (there's likely another requirement for this, but I don't have that information at the time of writing). Miss Belladonna is lucky to still be alive after what happened to her, and she was all but forced to retire from active duty as a Huntress. Too much exposure to nightshade, though I hear that she's practically immune to it now. Since her 'accident', as she calls it, happened before what happened to Yang, I'd warn her, but I doubt she'd believe me on what little information I've gathered so far; plus, she'd make me issue warnings to everyone with a name like hers, and that would take me from my research and ultimately be detrimental._

 _"One of the light. After what Ruby told me about her, I can't help but think it's her. But, in a different interpretation, it could just as easily be one of the Maidens. Or Mister Arc, if the rumors I've heard about his Semblance are true. I mean, it could be me, but I'm not a Huntress, not even a soldier. It makes much more sense for the 'one of the light' to be a warrior, given the stereotypical angel being a winged knight with a burning sword._

 _"If you're reading this, I can only guess that we failed. Or, hopefully, you're just rifling around in my things. If it's the latter, stop it!"_

Penny chuckled, shaking her head as Summer finished reading her namesake's handwriting. "It's definitely Summer who wrote this," Penny said softly, smiling sadly at the book of fairy tales.

"I know it's an odd thing to focus on, but why couldn't she be a Huntress?" Summer asked, making Penny sigh.

"She had osteogenesis imperfecta," Penny said, as if that was explanation enough.

"I've never heard of that," Summer said, turning back to the book only to notice Rhonwen's expression out of the corner of her eye. The white-haired woman was staring wide-eyed at Volka's still sleeping form, her lips parted slightly. "Rhonwen? What's wrong?"

"One of the world, taken," Rhonwen said, her voice barely audible. She turned back to Summer, a worried look in her blue eyes. "Summer, I... I know this is a horrible thing to say, but... I think Volka was taken by the Shade."

"What?" Summer asked, her voice dropping low as she glanced over at Volka. "Why?"

"Earlier, I told her about my father," Rhonwen began, looking back at Volka and staring again. "She said it knocked loose something in her head, that she got some of her memories back."

"She's an amnesiac?" Penny asked, also looking at Volka and marveling at just how much she looked like Yang. But, she considered, Summer was practically a dead ringer for Ruby, and Rhonwen was basically just a tall Weiss with short hair, though they were both missing a few scars that their ancestors had earned. "Wait, is she one of Yang's...?" Penny trailed off into a mumble, her eyes widening.

"I asked her to tell me what she remembered, but she said that she didn't want to remember it," Rhonwen continued, practically ignoring Penny. "And then... I swear, I'm not making this up, but her eyes turned yellow, Summer."

Summer turned her gaze to Rhonwen for a moment, judging the sincerity in the doctor's eyes before she looked back over at Volka, only to see Penny stand up in the corner of her eye. "Penny?" Summer asked, standing up as well as the robot slowly stepped towards the sleeping woman. "Penny, what's wrong?"

"Aura signature confirmed," Penny growled, glaring harshly at Volka. "Yang Xiao Long."

A panel slid open in each of Penny's arms, a thin dagger launched out of them only to be caught in the robot's grasping hands; the daggers were short, the edges of the blades tinged green in the sunlight trailing in through the windows. Penny closed the distance between her and Volka in two swift strides, raising the dagger in her right hand as she did.

"This is for Ruby, you bitch," Penny spat, driving the blade down at Volka's still unconscious form as Summer and Rhonwen watched, too stunned by her actions to do anything to stop her.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Nyahaha! You sure you want to stop there, Seraph? We're just getting to the juicy bits!

I've had quite enough of you for one day.

Ouch! You sure know how to make a guy feel appreciated, sugar!

Are you even male?

Nyahaha! I don't remember, it's been so long!

Wonderful.


	8. Chapter 7

Hello again.

Nyahaha! Back for more?

I have a duty to see this through, Shade. I will not allow my personal feelings towards you to diminish that duty.

Ooh, you have feelings for me? My oh my, I never thought of you in that way, Seraph.

Hatred and disgust are feelings, too, you know.

Nyahaha! Well, what to open with this time? Hmm...

Aura signature.

Huh?

Before I left last time, you said that Penny was able to identify Volka as Yang by analyzing her Aura. I'd like to know more about that, if possible.

Oh, that Dusted old thing? Well, you probably know that everyone's Aura is a different color, but what you don't know is that there are at least a dozen other factors concerning Aura that can be different: resonance, capacity, Dust affinity, even a person's default emotional state can effect it. Damn near no one can see those things, unless they've got a Litany, but I think Ruby managed to work a high-end ASD device into that overgrown sex toy of hers.

ASD?

Aura Signature Detection. Girl was never very bright when it came to naming things. Hell, she named her daughter after her dead mother. And when it came time to rebuild her girlfriend, she just had it take her name instead of coming up with a new identity for the thing. Lazy, especially for someone who smote me.

Move on, please.

Ooh, "please"? What, did I strike a nerve or something?

Just hurry up.

Fine. Where was I? Oh, right. So, yeah, there's a few things that can be different within each person's Aura to distinguish it from another's, but there's only so many of them, and a bunch tend to run in the family.

How so?

Well, while your kid's not likely to share your exact Aura unless you fucked your sibling, it's really likely for your great-great-grandkids or whatever to get pretty damn close, especially since even the highest-tech ASD device built before the Second Great War could only detect four of those Aura-determinants. I'm surprised Penny decided to trust her readings, actually; guess she must've been overly emotional or something. Ooh, and speaking of emotions, let's get right back into it, shall we?

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX** (AN: Haha! I got it this time! Suck it, unbolded X's!)

Summer's heart began to beat faster, though, to her, it seemed to slow to a stop; her Semblance was about her again, slowing her perception of time to a halt as she watched Penny drive her dagger down at Volka's sleeping form. Summer tried to move her hand down to her hip, to draw the shotgun that clung to her Aura, but she realized after fifteen seconds of apparent time that she wouldn't make it in time. 'If only I was faster,' Summer thought in a panic, only for her emotions to still as she felt a cool pulse on her left arm: the Rose Model PIP-Boy.

Summer acted almost without thinking, wildly pouring as much of her Aura as she could into it. 'Please, please, please, let this work!' Summer thought frantically.

 _"You're welcome."_

Summer couldn't react to the voice she heard; she was too busy charging at Penny, her shoulder out in front of her and rose petals swirling around her. Summer slammed into Penny just as her perception of time righted itself, knocking the woman away from Volka.

And through the wall of the medical clinic.

Wood broke with an alarming crack as the two sailed through the wall, splinters of broken lumber cascading around them as they found their feet on the roughly shod road. Summer's hands blurred with the speed her PIP-Boy granted her, letting her draw her shotgun and the pistol at her hip in an instant. She raised them in front of her, her left arm held straight to aim her pistol at Penny's head while her right arm was crooked slightly at the elbow, the shotgun held at an angle that would let her react more easily if Penny got too close for comfort.

"I will not let you kill Volka," Summer growled, her tail thrashing behind her as she glared at the robot. "I've lost too much to your kind already."

"You... you'd try to stop me? From killing Yang?" Penny asked, her startled gaze solidifying into a glare.

"She isn't Yang," Summer said, never letting her gaze drop from Penny. "That woman is Volka Locke, one of the most kindhearted people in Remnant. She helped found this town, one of the most welcoming places in the Wasteland, and was one of the people who took me in after... after what happened to my Vault. Hell, she took in half the people who wound up here! I don't know what Yang did to you, or to Ruby, but I will not let a robot take anyone from me ever again!" Summer was yelling by the end, her whole body shaking with the weight of her emotions.

"I'm sorry, Summer," Penny began, a panel in her back sliding open and a single sword seeming to levitate out from it. The moment it was floating above Penny's head, the sword split into twelve, each pointed straight at Summer. "But this is something I have to do."

They stood like that for a moment, each poised for violence and glaring at the other. But, eventually, someone had to make the first move.

Penny shoved on arm towards Summer, and a trio of her blades sailed towards the young Faunus, their tips trailing green light as they tore through the air with an audible wail. Summer reacted quickly, still in the grip of Ruby's Semblance, and shot the swords before they could get close, her pistol a flickering blur trailing red rose petals as she swung it to each blade in turn; her own Semblance was about her again, slowing her perception of time to one tenth normal speed and giving her plenty of apparent time to aim.

Penny started running the moment Summer deflected the first blade, drawing on her own Rose model PIP-Boy to speed herself up; green petals swirled around her as her feet pounded against the ground, her daggers trailing thick green light as she brought them to bear on Summer, who swung her shotgun into the robot's face and fired, letting go of a significant chunk of her Aura with the shot. The concussive pulse of red light was almost blinding, forcing the young Faunus to squint as she watched it blast Penny away from her, the robot sliding across the roughly-paved road until she managed to dig one of her knives into it.

Penny still slid, but, using her knives, she was able to control the slide and make the momentum work for her. She swung herself around, pointing herself feet-first at Summer and forming a trio of her swords into a loose formation behind her; the swords began to revolve around a point of viridian light that expanded into a harsh pulse of energy, adding to Penny's momentum as she launched herself at Summer, who was too startled to react, even in the grip of slowed time.

A white glyph, featuring eight arrows pointing in different directions, appeared in the air in front of Summer and then turned black; Penny slammed into it harshly, unable to break through Rhonwen's Semblance despite the strength of her kick. She crumpled to the ground, only to put her feet beneath herself and jump away, turning her glare on the Schnee as she stepped lightly from the busted open wall, the earbud of her PIP-Boy trailing upwards into her ear. Summer could hear faint music coming from it as Rhonwen stood beside her, the beating pulse of a rock song heavy on the drums.

"Stop, or be stopped," Rhonwen said, wishing that the ultimatum had sounded as cool out loud as it had in her head. "I will not ask again."

"Don't bother," Penny snarled, setting two sets of three swords into revolution on either side of her, each steadily growing a green orb of light. "You can't stop me."

A pop sounded faintly from the east, and a bullet slammed into the side of one of Penny's swords, destabilizing the revolution and causing the light it had been building to pulse out of existence. The impact distracted Penny, who suddenly had to reroute some of her attention to preventing her swords' wires from wrapping around her, and gave Summer the chance to shoot at one of the other revolving swords, causing the other orb to vanish as well as the swords swung out of control.

Penny let out a cry of frustration and swept her hands at Summer and Rhonwen, sending a full eight of her swords at the two young women. Before they could reach them, however, a slab of steel four feet tall and three feet wide slammed into them, sending the blades off course as Sheriff Ebeneezer Rouge crashed his shield against them. He slid to a stop mere feet away from the women, his boots kicking up stone as he turned to frown at Penny.

"Penny Rose, you're under arrest," Ebeneezer said, a small smile flitting across his face as he hefted his Adamantine long sword, propping it up against the pauldron he wore. "I would advise you come quietly, or I'll be forced to use lethal force."

Penny clenched her teeth together, mustering a glare that would have sent a lesser man running in terror, but Ebeneezer merely sighed and shook his head. "You're not gonna scare me away, you know," Ebeneezer said, throwing an annoyed scowl at the centuries-old robot.

Penny let out a frustrated growl as she set her all twelve of her swords into four sets of revolution behind her, the orbs growing into huge masses as she spun the blades around them. "You. Can't. Stop. Me," Penny growled, glancing at one of the sets of revolution as another bullet, once again courtesy of Alfred at his watch tower, clanged against one of the swords and destabilized it. She swept her hand through the air at the clinic, and the viridian globes condensed into single points before bleeding out into thin lines of light, each moving faster than anyone could hope to respond.

Which was why Rhonwen had instead predicted the flight paths of the lasers and summoned up her Semblance, creating opalescent barrier glyphs to stop the cutting beams. She grit her teeth as the robot's Aura met her own, forcing more of her energy into maintaining the glyphs against the attack, and, for a long moment, Rhonwen thought that she would fail. But she succeeded, creating a second set of glyphs behind the first to shove the lasers paths into the sky.

Summer took that moment to press the advantage, tapping into still more of her ancestor's Semblance as she flung herself at Penny. Rose petals flowed in her wake as she brought up her pistol and shot on the run, her bullets bouncing off of Penny's Aura in a miasma of red and green light. Summer slid to a stop in front of her, bringing her shotgun to bear on her, only for Penny to push the gun to one side just as Summer shot, sending a cascade of steel birdshot and red light to fly into one of the nearby buildings, and jab her dagger at the Faunus's shoulder. Summer was shoved away, her Aura taking the brunt of the strike, but Penny was powerful enough that the blow also managed to cut through Summer's blouse and leave a thin cut on her shoulder.

Ebeneezer was already charging in, even as Summer was thrown to one side by Penny's attack; he rammed his shield into the red-haired robot, drawing a grunt of surprise and a flash of green light from her. She let herself be moved by the attack, sliding across the ground and throwing up loose stone. Too much loose stone. Brown lines etched themselves into existence across one of Penny's daggers as she drew upon the Dust it held, swinging it at Ebeneezer in a sweeping motion and throwing a hail of pebbles and gravel at him. He brought his shield between him and the flurry, but was left unprepared for Penny clearing the distance between them in a haze of green rose petals and slamming her heel into his shield, sending him flying backwards into the clinic, shattering yet another portion of the already broken wall.

"Hey!" a youthful voice shouted, drawing Penny's attention to her left. She caught a brief glimpse of a brown-haired young man before a thick brown vine wrapped around her right arm and tugged her into the wall of the building behind her. Frustrated, she looked up, catching sight of a young woman who looked almost identical to the young man who'd distracted her, only for an identical vine to wrap around her left arm and pull her away from the building.

"You do it, Ajax!" Demeter cheered from the roof as her twin brother spun on his heel, swinging the robot around before letting go of the vine and sending Penny into an uncontrolled roll across the street, as far away from the clinic as he could get her.

"Gods, how much does she weigh?" Ajax asked, panting and wincing at the pain in his shoulders and biceps.

Penny was more frustrated than she'd been in a long, long time. She rose to her feet, gathering her swords behind her with a roll of her shoulders as she glared at each resident of Yang's Rest in turn, marking each of them in her mind (well, what passed for her mind) before she turned her gaze back to the medical clinic, her eyes widening with anger when she saw the figure standing there.

"Thanks for the water, doc!" Volka called behind her, cracking her neck to one side as she hefted her sword over her shoulder, a vicious grin painted across her face as she met Penny's eyes with her own. Haruki stood behind her, holding a half-empty jug of water with a biohazard sign crudely sketched on it in black ink.

"Yang Xiao Long," Penny growled, clenching her fists tighter around her daggers as she lifted them in front of her. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

"Sorry to say you've got the wrong girl, princess," Volka said, her grin twisting into a smirk only briefly. "I'm just one of Yang's descendants. I can see why you'd make the mistake, though," Volka added, running a hand through her long blonde hair. "Minus the fact that I don't have, you know, a _cybernetic arm_."

"I know it's you, Yang," Penny snarled, her eyes widening so far that they strained the artificial skin around them. "I'd never forgot the Aura signature of the woman who killed my wife."

Volka's grin disappeared, replaced by a mildly shocked expression. "What?" Volka asked, as if bewildered by Penny's statement. Volka shook her head, then said, "You're not thinking clearly, Mrs. Rose. How could I possibly be Yang? She must've died, what, two hundred years ago?"

"I can still see the Shade's filth in your Aura, Yang," Penny continued, her cheeks twitching from the strain her anger was putting them through. "I don't know how, I don't know why, but I know what you are, and I won't suffer another puppet of that thing to live any longer."

Volka scowled at Penny, then cracked her neck the other way, producing yet another audible pop. "I don't know who I was before I lost my memories," Volka began, causing most of the townspeople gathered around them to flinch. "But that was over a decade ago, and I know who I am _now_. I am Volka Locke, descendant of Yang Xiao Long, wielder of the Qrow's Talon, and co-founder of Yang's Rest." Volka bent slightly at the waist, planting her feet firmly against the ground as she hefted her sword in front of her, both hands wrapped around the hilt as she stared past the blade at Penny. "And I don't take kindly to people that threaten my home."

With that said, Volka shot at Penny like a rocket, her feet punching small craters into the ground with the force of her lunge. Sickly yellow light fell from her sword as she slashed at the robot, carving a deep trench into the road when she dodged in a cascade of green rose petals. Penny stabbed one of her daggers at Volka, only for the blonde to parry the strike with her sword, moving so quickly that she seemed to blur. The two moved so quickly that the gathered crowd could barely keep up, their eyes only tracking blurry images and trails of golden and viridian sparks where their weapons met.

All, that is, except for Summer Dream, who was still in the grip of her Semblance. Her rifle was drawn, and she'd dropped to one knee to give herself more stability as she aimed at Penny. Rose petals, red instead of the green surrounding Penny, swirled around her as she drew upon her ancestor's Semblance, shoving it and her Aura into the barrel of her rifle. Her heart was beating fast, she knew, but she could count to twenty between each beat, and she used that slowed time to predict where she'd need to shoot.

To her, she pulled the trigger moments before sparks flew from the clashing weapons; to everyone else, it was instantaneous. Sparks filled the air, and Penny was thrown into a building fifty feet away by a streak of red light, crashing through a corner and slamming through two walls in quick succession before skidding to a halt along the ground. Summer's PIP-Boy let out a shrill beep, the indicator that she had less than thirty percent of her Aura left.

'Wait,' Summer thought, frowning as she watched Volka leap after Penny and begin fighting the robot anew. 'How much Aura does she have?' Summer's eyes went wide as she saw Volka slam the flat of her blade against Penny while she rose, sending her flying closer to the group with a burst of yellow and green light; still, Penny's PIP-Boy did not give its warning.

Penny landed on her feet, only to catch the side of Ebeneezer's Adamantine sword across her chest, sending her skidding into the wall of the medical clinic. The sheriff blinked and jumped backwards, surprise etched across his face. "How the hell are you still standing?" Ebeneezer asked, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Penny.

"Adamantine is soft," Penny growled. "I'm not."

"Not unless I make you," Ferrer declared, stepping out from behind part of the ruined wall and clamping his hand on Penny's shoulder. Penny froze, her mouth partway open and her eyes narrowed in anger.

"Why can't I move?!" Penny asked without moving her mouth, fear lacing her voice.

"My Semblance lets me reshape metal," Ferrer said, almost casually. "Guess what you're made of, Mrs. Rose."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Shit," Storm said, leaning back against the velvet-soft cushions. He was sitting in a booth in the Sunset Diner, and was joined by Summer, Rhonwen, and Volka, all of whom were already eating. "I can't believe I missed something that big."

Volka let out a soft snort, waiting until she'd swallowed her bite of her steak sandwich before she said, "Just wait until we can tell Asra about it. Although, she might be awake to see Penny drive past her. I think she's going the right direction for it."

"Not that, idiot," Storm said, giving Volka a halfhearted scowl. "I mean the fact that you might be Yang. I mean, shit, that's even bigger than half the town coming out to fight Ruby's widowed robot."

Volka frowned, setting her sandwich back down on her plate and giving Storm a serious look that was partially ruined by the sauce on the corner of her mouth. "How could I be Yang?" Volka asked, annoyed. "My memory only goes back so far, but I remember what it was like to grow up. Hell, you met me when I was sixteen, Storm; you probably remember me growing up."

"That's debatable," Storm said, rolling his eyes and chuckling when Volka pouted at him.

"What's going on?" Rhonwen asked, looking between the two of them with half-lidded eyes; evidently, her glass of hard cider was putting her to sleep. "I thought you two hated each other." Volka winced and looked away, and Storm refused to meet Rhonwen's gaze. "Let me guess: it's complicated?"

"I wish," Volka mumbled, shaking her head slowly. "That'd be easier to explain, and deal with."

"Long story short: we were together, something happened, then we weren't," Storm said, shrugging his shoulders. "That's oversimplifying it, but that's the basics of it."

"'Something happened'?" Summer repeated, cocking her head sideways as she looked at Volka, her own sandwich lying half-eaten in front of her.

"It's probably not something they're comfortable talking about," Rhonwen said, grimacing as Summer raised an eyebrow at her. "At least, I've never heard anyone talk about it around town."

Volka sighed dejectedly, pushing her plate away from her. "I was pregnant," Volka said, making Rhonwen flinch and Summer swallow nervously. "For less than three months."

"And then she was gone for another three," Storm said, almost cutting Volka off. "And she came back stinking of booze, drugs, and sex."

"You weren't there," Volka mumbled, her gaze fixed on the table in between them.

"You're damn right I wasn't," Storm growled, glaring at Volka. "I was stuck here, still working on building the damn militia with Ferrer, and _you didn't come home_. When you didn't come back, I... I thought you were dead, V. I thought I'd lost you to the caravans, like I'd lost my mother." Storm made a low noise in his throat, gritting his teeth together and turning his glare at the wall. "Then I found out you'd been a whore the entire time you were gone, and that our baby was gone before it could be born. What the fuck was I supposed to do?"

Silence fell over the table; no one was able to say anything in response to that. Moments passed slowly in that silence, but then Volka stood up, her head hung and her eyes closed. She stumbled out through the doors to the diner, tears streaking down her cheeks.

Summer all but shoved Rhonwen out of the booth in her haste to follow Volka, saying, "I'll talk to her," as she ran after her crying relative.

And then silence was sovereign once more. Rhonwen returned to her seat, opening her mouth to speak only to close it and shake her head.

"I'm sorry about that," Storm said softly, his voice dry. "It's... an old wound, I guess."

"Yeah," Rhonwen said, her voice just as quiet.

Storm cleared his throat, gave a tiny shake of his head, and asked, "How's Summer taking what happened this morning?" When he saw Rhonwen's brow furrow, he added, "I know, odd segue. But the topic might be a bit... easier? I guess?"

Rhonwen sighed, then shook her head. "She's not doing well," she said after a moment, glancing at the door worriedly. "You noticed that she wasn't wearing her PIP-Boy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah," Rhonwen said, staring down at her half-full drink. After a moment's hesitation, she lifted it to her lips and drank it down in three large swallows. "It's like that," Rhonwen said, setting her empty glass down with a heavy thunk.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Volka?" Summer asked softly, sitting down next to the woman in question. Volka had started running the moment she left the diner, her feet guiding her to the statue of Yang Xiao Long in the center of town. Once there, she'd sat down on the sole bench that faced the statue, staring up at her ancestor as tears rolled down from her eyes.

Volka remained quiet, but Summer knew better than to start talking; she'd learned that there was a time and a place to speak well enough in Vault 4. So, Summer settled for wrapping her arm around Volka's shoulders, letting the blonde take in the loving warmth of her family while she sat there and cried.

"Thanks, Summer," Volka mumbled after a long minute, leaning further into Summer's embrace. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Summer asked gently, turning her head to look at Volka.

"Making you see me like this," Volka said, closing her eyes. She slumped against Summer's shoulder, feeling even wearier than she had when Rhonwen had been forced to carry her back to the clinic mere hours earlier. "You probably wish you'd let Penny kill me this morning, don't you?"

Summer's grip around Volka's shoulders tightened, and she turned away from the blonde, not letting her see the hateful glare that twisted her lips and brow. "No," Summer growled, making Volka shiver. "I just wish I could've turned that bitch into scrap metal." Volka looked up at Summer, opening her eyes and flinching at the utter fury in Summer's silver eyes. "I'm not going to let a robot take my family away from me ever again."

"Summer?" Volka asked, getting the younger woman to blink a few times, her fury subsiding minutely each time. "What if... what if I am Yang?" Volka asked, tears welling up in her eyes again. "What Penny said... I don't... she said that Yang killed Ruby. What happens if my memories come back and it turns out I did that, and a thousand horrible things in the years between then and now?"

"You said it yourself just this morning, Volka," Summer said, giving her a small smile. "How could Yang have survived that long?"

"But, everything that's been happening..." Volka began, only to cut herself off by swallowing at the lump in her throat. "What if the Shade did something to me? What if it de-aged me, or something, and I've just been growing up, over and over?"

Summer sighed, then shook her head. "Look, even if that was true, you've got amnesia, right?" Summer asked, drawing a tight nod from Volka. "Then that means you're still Volka Locke, even if you used to be someone else."

"Volka Locke's a pretty shitty person, too," Volka mumbled, burying her eyes in Summer's shoulder.

"Say, Volka, you've been out here for your whole life, right?" Summer asked, seemingly going off on a tangent. At Volka's murmured affirmative, Summer added, "Then, tell me something: are there any saints out here?"

Volka lifted her head, her confusion showing through her tears as she stared at Summer. "What?" Volka asked.

"Genuinely good people, who've never done wrong and have done their best to help anyone and everyone who need it," Summer said, giving Volka a small smile.

"I... no, I don't think so," Volka mumbled, her eyebrows coming together as she continued to stare at her cousin. "Why?"

"Well, if there aren't any saints, then who are you comparing yourself to?" Summer asked, poking Volka's forehead with her pinkie. It was an old gesture, one that she'd done to Layla whenever she felt that she was being silly or needed to be startled out of whatever funk she was feeling. "I remember you saying something to that Brotherhood guy when you and Rhonwen took me in. I think it was something like: 'everyone's done something in their past'. So, why are you holding yourself to a higher standard?" Summer asked, smiling at Volka again.

"I... what?" Volka asked, utterly confused.

"Think of all the good you've done in your life, Volka," Summer said, gesturing at the town around them. "You helped make a place where people can be safe from the horrible things out here, a place where people can be accepted for who they are. So what if you've done some bad in your life?" Summer asked, making Volka's eyes start watering again. "How many of the people living here today did you personally invite? How many of them did you escort here to keep them safe on the journey?" Summer gave Volka another smile. "I'm guessing it was more than just me, Rhonwen, and Storm."

"... A lot of them," Volka mumbled, her voice cracking.

"Then why are you letting this get to you? You are Volka Locke, descendant of Yang Xiao Long, wielder of the Qrow's Talon, and co-founder of Yang's Rest," Summer said, parroting back what Volka had proclaimed to Penny mere hours earlier. "You've done too much good to let the bad get to you."

Volka didn't say anything for a long moment, staring at Summer, her blue eyes meeting her cousin's silver. "What about the Shade?" Volka asked, her voice almost inaudible. "What if it makes me... what if it makes me do something?"

Summer smiled again, this time a wide, almost happy grin that stretched her cheeks. "I think we have a plan for that."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Moon rose early today," Asra mumbled to herself as she stood up, stretching to relieve some of the tension in her back. She'd slept on a bedroll that she'd placed in a narrow cleft of a rock shelf some years ago, a frequent stop on her delivery route to the NCR's Camp Epsilon; she looked up at the sky, then back down at her PIP-Boy, noting that it was only a little after four in the afternoon with a measure of annoyance and a weary sigh. "Great. Lot of running ahead of me, then."

It didn't take her long to break her "camp", such as it was; it was little more than putting her coat and backpack back on. Asra stretched her legs, made sure her bootlaces were tied tightly, then jumped down from the rocky outcropping, her landing shaking a cloud of coarse red dust from the barren plain.

"Wish I could get the twins to work over this route," Asra muttered under her breath as she started off at a jog, working her legs back into the utterly familiar rhythm of running. "Be easier to breathe during this stretch."

The cat-eared Faunus picked up speed quickly, impatient as she was to get out of the plains and leave the ancient mountain behind her. Though it was little more than a footnote to her at this point, Asra had explored the base of the mountain quite thoroughly in her younger years, and had discovered quite the cache of Dust and weaponry in a secure locker that had been half-covered in the dust of the surrounding plains; due to this, she'd logged its location in her PIP-Boy as "Guns and Dust Mountain."

... Yeah, she's not very good at naming things.

The plain itself was nothing special: most of the thirty-mile wide area was covered in a layer of chalky red dust that sparkled like metal in the sunlight and smelled faintly of blood, but the ground beneath was a loose, sandy brown, the sediment almost too large to support much in the way of plant life. And yet, the occasional tree did spring up around the thin, misshapen bushes and occasional clump of brown grass, with bark white as ash and leaves black as coal.

Asra's path took her by a thick cluster of these trees, an oasis of a sort, though she was careful to keep her distance; the last time she'd gone by, there had been a rather large pack of Beowolves hidden in the glade, and it had cost her most of an hour to pick them off while keeping her distance.

This time, when Asra got to the trees, she was surprised to see an old car sitting beside it. Plated steel had been welded to the front and rear bumpers, as well as over the hood and the roof, and a pair of turrets jutted out from the sides of the vehicle, their long barrels mounted on swiveling brackets. The rig seemed oddly familiar to Asra, and she let out a sigh as she altered her course to take her to the glade instead of speeding straight past it.

Asra was surprised again when she got to the center of the micro-forest, the cat-like ears atop her head perking up as she spotted a trio of familiar faces sitting around the spring in the center of the clearing.

"Renatus?" Asra called to one of the figures, watching his surprise fade to delight as he spotted her. He stood up, hands brushing dirt from his brown trousers awkwardly as he walked towards Asra, his yellow eyes meeting hers as he grinned at her; his pants were of a pair with his black coat, each looking like they belonged to a gentlemen's suit, a fact that was only made more pronounced by the dark purple dress shirt he wore beneath the coat. His cat-like tail, its fur the same black as his hair, twitched to the side as they hugged.

"Asra," he mumbled, pulling away from her long enough to look her up and down. "It's good to see you again," he said, hugging her again before they separated for real.

"You too, little brother," Asra said, smirking as she ran a hand through his short black hair, though she had to reach up to do it: he was a good six inches taller than her. "Though I suppose you aren't so little anymore," Asra noted, chuckling at Renatus's blush.

"Belmont," one of Renatus's companions said by way of greeting, her high voice possessed of an oddly musical quality that seemed to be mocking Asra, though she'd known her for long enough to know that wasn't the case. She didn't rise, merely lifting one of her hands in greeting. Her entire body was encased in metal armor, a faint multi-colored glow coming from the joints and open panels; upon the back sat a large metal case that fed a series of absurdly large rounds into the utterly massive machine gun currently strapped to it. Despite the sheer size of her weapon, she still managed to dwarf it with her sheer height; even sitting down as she was, the four foot long gun only barely crested the top of her helmet.

"Sage," Asra said in return, smiling at the armored woman. "Good to see you made Star Paladin since we last spoke."

Sage lifted a hand and swiveled her wrist dismissively. "Elder Boreas wanted someone with Renatus who wasn't likely to baby him," she said, drawing another chuckle from Asra and causing Renatus's blush to deepen. "Like Takara would."

"Hey!" the final member of the trio exclaimed, glaring at the power-armored woman. His eyes glittered like amethysts, his cropped-short hair shone like polished gold, and his skin seemed more like porcelain than actual flesh; these all meshed oddly with his wide shoulders and thick layers of muscle showing through his tight-fitting black shirt. "I don't baby him!"

"You tried to give him a foot rub," Sage said in a deadpan, staring at Takara; Asra assumed that she was merely giving him an annoyed scowl behind the helmet, but the built-in gas mask made the stare much more frightening than the Star Paladin likely intended.

"He said his feet were sore!" Takara protested, a fierce blush appearing on his face. "I just wanted to make sure he was comfortable!"

"If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a freaking irradiated desert," Sage growled. "Comfort shouldn't even be on your radar right now."

As the two continued to argue, with Takara becoming louder and even more red in the face and Sage's tone growing more and more dangerous, Renatus let out a sigh and shook his head. Asra looked at her brother and winced. "So, it's still like this, huh?" she asked, turning her attention back to the arguing Scribe and Star Paladin.

"Yeah," Renatus said softly, seeming utterly depressed by it. "Most people don't even see me, these days. They just see her."

"Is that why they gave you that PIP-Boy?" Asra asked quietly, glancing down at the device strapped to Renatus's wrist. The metal was an odd sort of steel, bearing a very feminine purple color that had not been merely painted on, and the leather padding was a soft sort of black; red rose petals had been etched into the steel long ago, a grim reminder of the soul fragment it now bore.

"And the sword," Renatus muttered, idly raising a hand to stroke the black handle of the slender blade he wore on his back; its guard bore what used to be a basic 9mm pistol, but had undergone so many modifications throughout the years that calling it "custom" would be a disservice, and its thick sheath was nearly as sharp as the blade itself. Renatus remained silent for a long moment, only to say, "I wish they'd just let me be me."

"I know, little brother," Asra said, leaning her head against his shoulder and wrapping an arm around his waist. She looked up into his eyes as they swiveled down to look at her questioningly, and gave him a small smile. "They will, eventually. Change them one person at a time."

"I will," Renatus said, smiling weakly in return. "If only to bring you back with me."

"Ah," Asra said, wincing. "Well, um, I might not be going back, actually. Or, um, at least, not alone."

"Oh?" Renatus asked, his yellow eyes glittering. "So you finally found yourself a girlfriend?"

"Ye-yeah," Asra mumbled, glancing away. "Well, um, I mean, we've only been on the one date, so, uh... yeah."

Renatus chuckled, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulders. "Give it time, sis," Renatus said soothingly. "So," he added, "you wanna tell me about her?"

"Well, she's..." Asra began, trailing off as she thought about where to start. "She's generous," Asra said after a moment, remembering how Summer threw herself into working as the mechanic of Yang's Rest and undercharged everyone who came to her. "Good with machines, too. Her first day in town, she fixed up a water purifier that'd been giving us trouble for years. And she's a damn good shot, too," Asra added, a bit of pride filling her as she thought of how much trouble Summer had helped her town solve in little over a week.

Renatus grinned at Asra as she smiled contentedly, only to frown as he saw the look in her eyes. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"A-a few things, yeah," Asra admitted, taking a few steps away from her younger brother as she composed herself. "She's... a bit out there, right now," Asra continued. "More focused on learning enough to get revenge for her Vault than doing anything else."

"Her Vault?"

Asra sighed and shook her head, staring sadly down at the ground. "It's not a happy story," Asra mumbled. "They had robotic security, and it went against them. Summer's the only person who survived."

"Gods," Renatus muttered, licking his lips as he, too, sent his gaze to the ground.

"She thinks that someone had to have caused it, and I think I agree with her," Asra continued, her voice low and quiet. "I'm helping her when I can, but... it sort of happened out of nowhere," Asra said, blushing as she abruptly changed topics to her relationship with Summer. "She's been working on something, a car, in her off-time, and she's offered to let me use it for this trip when she's done fixing it. I... may have made the first move."

Renatus chuckled, glad to get his mind off of the darker things the world had to offer. "So, there's something you've been dancing around," Renatus said, getting Asra to throw him a confused look. "What does she look like?"

Asra froze, paling as she realized what she was going to have to say. "U-um," Asra stammered, swallowing nervously. "She's a Faunus, with a wolf tail, but, um... other than that... she just looks like... like Ruby," Asra finished quietly, her voice squeaking when she said her name.

Renatus froze, swallowing as his eyes unfocused, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "Oh," Renatus said, his voice a harsh croak. "I... I see."

"Ren, I-" Asra began, only to be cut off when her brother raised his hand.

"Don't," Renatus said, taking slow breaths. "I miss them," Renatus growled under his breath, turning away so his sister didn't have to see him cry. "They're Blake's memories, but Gods damn me, I still miss them."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I'm mad at you."

Penny flinched at the words, nearly jerking her car off of the relatively clear and stable path she was driving on. She'd felt the shimmer of energy pass over her a mere moment before the woman appeared next to her in the car, her form translucent and sparkling with red and silver light.

"Ruby-" Penny began, only to get cut off by her long dead lover.

"No, Penny," Ruby said, scowling at the robot. Her black hair fell to her shoulder in an artful pattern that covered the scar over her eye and the ragged chunk of ear she still had left, leaving her right eye free to glare at Penny. Her hands clenched into fists above her black skirt, laden with silver crosses, and the lack of a pinkie on her left hand was very apparent. "You know, if I wasn't so mad right now, I'd almost find it funny that you'd literally go against my dying words like that," Ruby continued, her glare softening when she saw Penny flinch again. "I told you not to blame Yang for what happened. And then, what do you do? Oh, that's right: you try to kill someone who looks like her and is probably her descendant."

"But, her Aura signature-"

"We don't know enough about them yet," Ruby said, cutting Penny off again. "If the war hadn't happened, we could've started up a program to continue researching it over a few centuries. You could've supervised it, for all I know. But, as it is, we still don't have enough information about them to judge anyone by their Aura; Dust, for all we know, the Shade's got a pattern naturally replicated by some Auratic signatures."

Silence settled over the car again, the robot and the ghost not speaking for more than a minute as they continued along their path. "I'm sorry," Penny mumbled at last, unwilling to meet Ruby's silver eyes. "I let my emotions get the better of me. I promise it won't happen again."

Ruby's mouth twitched in a smile, and she shook her head. "Nah, don't promise that," Ruby said, placing her hand over Penny's affectionately. "I know you can't keep it." She sighed as she saw Penny flinch again, the robot's hand jerking through Ruby's spectral form with barely any resistance. "Besides, it's not me you need to apologize to."

"What?" Penny asked, her voice small and quiet. It was not a conscious decision on her part; Ruby had added onto her original programming in a number of ways, including adding several unconscious response patterns that would let her be more Human than her original self would have ever been.

"Well, there's Yang's descendant, Volka, for one," Ruby said, drawing her hand back onto her lap. "I'm sure she'd be pretty pissed off at the things you said." Penny flinched yet again as Ruby added, "And Summer. Though I don't know how you'll ever manage to get it to her without her trying to kill you."

"I don't... I don't know where I'd begin," Penny murmured. If she'd been able to cry, she would have been sobbing so hard that she would've crashed the car.

"I've got an idea on where to start," Ruby said, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a brief smile. "You remember what Wingman said when you had that interview with him?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Lux Eterna had always been an odd fellow, even before he decided to become a courier. At a height of seven foot four (and that's not including the foot-long pair of rabbit ears jutting out from the top of his head), he towered over damn near everyone he'd ever met, and he was so packed with rigid muscle that he almost looked unnatural, even to the Faunus of the Winter Fang, who were used to oddities on a person-by-person basis. His hair had never grown back after an ill-fated encounter with an especially irradiated ghoul, but his rabbit ears still bore the auburn streaked with white that his had had once been. His eyes were a soft grey, which only served to make his well-tanned skin seem even darker in contrast. His clothes were simple and well-worn, stained irrevocably with dust and dirt thanks to his travels; why, you could barely even tell that his tank top used to be white! The straight sword he bore at his hip was just as simple, and just as stained, though it was brushed with blood and the odd fluids that the mutated Grimm could secrete.

Lux sighed in relief as the fog surrounding the city formerly known as Beacon welled around him again, adjusting the backpack he wore so that it didn't bite into his shoulders quite so much. It had been a particularly hot day, partly due to the lack of cloud cover; though he'd counted it as a blessing at the start of the day, it had quickly become a curse in his mind as he felt the nearly unconquerable urge to burn through the rest of his Water Dust by creating a downpour over his head. But he had persevered, eventually making it to the city of mist before the sun managed to set while still having enough Dust left to get him to his next destination.

He gave a quick glance up at the massive tower that rose up from the city's center as he approached the guards stationed at the city's gates, giving them a slow wave as he approached. Lux had long since gotten used to the reactions he typically garnered from the people he met, and had learned that it was best to not make any sudden moves if he wanted to not take a shotgun blast to the chest. Again.

"Lux," one of the guards said, greeting the giant Faunus with a nod of his head; this caused his beret to flop down from his head, revealing the black stubble atop his head, as well as his short, stubby horns. "Ah, fuck," the guard muttered, a light blush appearing on his face as his partner laughed at him. They wore the same uniform, composed of a black shirt beneath a dark blue flak jacket with two long trails, each somewhat reminiscent of the half-skirts that had been in fashion at Beacon before the war; the trousers, by contrast, were a bright green, the color standing out dramatically against the curtain of fog and the high metal walls. As part of their uniform, they each bore an assault carbine, painted in a camouflage pattern of icy-blue and jet black, and a pistol-sized shotgun of the same colors.

"Ignore him," the other guard said to Lux, stifling her giggles as she nodded at him as well; her own beret didn't fall off, as her own horns pinned it in place, curling up from her forehead and wrapping over her head. "Making a delivery, I'm guessing?" she asked, opening a small notebook and lifting a pen in her other hand.

"Yep," Lux said, his voice both rough and thick, like syrup with ground glass. "Some Dust and scrap electronics. Goes straight to Miss Rush."

"Ah," the female guard said, nodding again as she wrote something down in the notebook. "You're clear to go in, Lux," she added after a moment, snapping the notebook shut.

"I'll buzz the gate," the male guard said, holding his beret against his head as he jogged inside the guard station the two Fangs were stationed outside of. "It'll just take a second!" he called as he opened the door and stumbled inside, nearly losing his hat again.

"He's new," the female guard explained, smiling at Lux as he let out a snort. "You gonna wait to make him feel good?"

"Sun's still shining," Lux said, granting the guard a brief smirk. "Might as well make this quick."

Lux didn't bother waiting another second, gathering his Semblance about him as he crouched low. The sunlight seemed to flow into him, arcing through the mist like the tendrils of some unspeakable monster. With a grunt, he jumped, bounding like the rabbit Faunus he was, an echo of yellow light washing from him as he shot nearly a hundred feet upwards and more than three hundred feet forwards, clearing the only now opening gate easily.

He landed in another flash of yellow light, startling the few people milling about as he leaped again, quickly making his way to a small workshop on the eastern end of the city. Lux let out a sigh as he landed for the final time, the cool shadows settling over him and separating him from the sun, the source of his Semblance's power, as he entered the door of the converted garage, a small bell ringing above the door.

"Eep!" was the startled exclamation of the room's sole occupant. She bolted up onto her feet, her orange-red hair curling around her ears as she stared at Lux, her silver eyes wide with quickly-fading fear. She let out a sigh of relief after a moment, a bright blush on her freckled cheeks as she raised a hand over her bosom, digging her fingers into the fabric of her grease-stained black blouse in a nervous habit. Using her other hand, she brushed some of the dust and dirt from her black trousers, which were just as stained as her shirt. "S-sorry," the woman stammered, blushing harder when she saw Lux shake his head, a smile etched across his face.

"Calm down, Cinder," Lux said, grinning at the young woman as he slipped his backpack off his shoulders. "I'm just making a delivery."

"O-oh, right!" Cinder Rush exclaimed, her eyes widening again, but in excitement this time. "Thanks, Lux!"

"No problem," Lux said, unzipping his backpack and drawing a pair of long, thin boxes and a similarly sized metal canister from it. "Let's see, we've got some circuitry from a computer hardware factory a few hundred miles north, some assorted wires and parts and such from a hardware store in a ghost town, and about ten pounds of Dust, mostly crystals, mostly Lightning," Lux drawled as he opened the two boxes and showed Cinder their contents. "Not all of the crystals are Lightning, and not all of the Lightning is in crystals."

"Wow," Cinder let out with a breath, staring at the scrap electronics with wide, hungry eyes. "Thank you, Lux," she added after a moment, looking up at the tall man, a wide smile stretching her lips and cheeks.

"Oh, almost forgot," Lux added, scooping a leather satchel out of the backpack and presenting it to Cinder. He didn't say another word, but he smiled at her as she picked up the old bag and prodded a finger at the drawstrings holding it shut.

"It's not a snake, is it?" Cinder asked, sudden worry and fear painting her cheeks white.

"Nope, I promise," Lux said, not missing a beat; he kept smiling, though that only managed to make Cinder even more worried.

After a good, long moment of staring into Lux's eyes, Cinder let out a sigh and tugged open the satchel, flinching as it fell down around the object it contained. It revealed a length of metal and leather, painted a potent white and splotched with cloud-shaped dots of black and yellow. "Lux?" Cinder murmured, her voice so quiet that Lux could barely hear it, even with his extra set of ears.

"It's a PIP-Boy," Lux explained as Cinder picked it up, her hand shaking a little as she stared at it with wide eyes. "An Amaterasu model, if I'm not mistaken." He smiled as Cinder faced him again, her silver eyes swimming with tears. "Happy sixteenth, Cinder."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard," Rhonwen complained, as she'd been doing for the last twenty minutes. She was out in the grassland that bordered the west edge of Yang's Rest, warily eyeing the Beowolf that Ferrer had used his Semblance and a length of wire to string up and partially fuse to a slab of metal. The Grimm growled angrily, glaring at Summer from behind its bone-like mask. "You're going to _look_ a Grimm to death?"

"That's the plan," Summer mumbled, staring at the beast as it howled and raged, straining its shadowy limbs against the metal that bound it. "Thanks for the help, by the way," she added, turning to look at the three people assembled behind her; in addition to Rhonwen, there was Ferrer and Alfred.

"If this can help Volka get over whatever it was that Penny said to her, then I'm all for it," Ferrer said, idly gliding his fingers over the thick metal bracers he wore. Alfred merely grunted, shifting his shoulders as he adjusted to the weight of the assault carbine he was holding; his role was to make sure nothing went wrong by shooting the Grimm if it looked like it was going to escape, or by shooting at any other Grimm, Ghouls, or Ferals that decided to show up. Summer felt weird that he was helping her, since they'd never met before, but was grateful nonetheless. "Ah, how exactly would this help Volka, again?" Ferrer asked, glancing at Summer with barely concealed worry.

"From what Penny said, there's magic in the world, and some of it's in my eyes," Summer said, wincing at her own explanation. "It was a bit of a story, but there's some historical evidence to support it, mostly along the lines of what Ruby did in the years between the war and the CCT incident around twenty years earlier. Supposedly, whatever magic the 'silver-eyed warriors' possess is capable of purging Grimm from existence. Extrapolating on that-"

"We think that it'll be able to force out whatever the Shade did to Volka," Rhonwen finished for her, grimacing. "Assuming that her amnesia is a direct result of the Shade's interference, she'll regain the memories that she had before it effected her. If not, well, it could still help her in some other ways," Rhonwen added, wincing. The fight that she'd witnessed between Volka and Storm earlier was still fresh in her mind, even though she'd been half-drunk for it. "That is, assuming any of this has any actual basis in reality, and isn't just a result of people mythologizing a famous warrior."

"Then let's get this over with," Ferrer said, turning his attention back to the bound Beowolf as it continued its howling. With a sigh, he crouched low and picked up the wire he'd dropped earlier; with an effort of his Semblance, he forced the thin steel slab holding the Grimm to flow like water in places, drawing the metal up and around the Beowolf's muzzle and forcing it shut. "Sorry, it was giving me a headache," Ferrer added when Rhonwen glanced at him, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"That's fine," Summer said, taking a deep breath. "This will help me focus."

Everyone fell silent, letting Summer draw forth her will and light her path with memory. As she'd been in the grip of her Semblance that day, she remembered every little detail of the fight with the giant Dust-augmented Nevermore, including the core of silver that her bullet's trail had held. Summer focused on that memory above all else, the exhilaration of assured victory, of showing off her brightest side to the people who'd helped her, blending with the instinctive hatred she had for the Grimm.

Before thirty seconds had gone by, Summer felt it, the warm brush of power flowing from her eyes. She lifted a hand, catching a few of the silver sparks trailing from her eyes; then, she turned her full attention to the Grimm in front of her, glaring at it with every bit of hatred she could muster.

Silver flames burst from her eyes, making them seem to expand from her body in a display of sheer power. Summer couldn't hear Rhonwen's gasp as the flames grew, nor could she hear Ferrer's expression of disbelief; she was too lost to the hatred.

The Grimm seemed to hold a dozen different faces, each one of someone she'd been abused by at the Vault, people she'd never be able to get back at; Myst's visage was the most prominent, a trail of blood dribbling from the sneering grin that stretched his lips. As the flames continued to grow and expand, sucking more and more of her energy into them, two more faces were added into the mix: one was too cloaked in shadow for her to understand, but she identified it as the person who'd caused the deaths of everyone in her Vault; the other was of Penny, the robotic woman who'd nearly taken away the only family that Summer had left.

Silver light eclipsed the field, engulfing everything within a hundred feet.

And then it was gone.

Summer collapsed. falling to the ground without ever seeing the dissolving form of the Beowolf. Her eyes were closed, her skin pale; Rhonwen ran to her the moment she'd realized what happened, grabbing Summer's arm and placing her index and middle fingers on the older woman's wrist.

"Oh, thank fuck," Rhonwen mumbled, relief making her knees weak as she felt Summer's pulse.

"By the gods," Ferrer muttered, blinking the spots from his eyes as he stared at Summer. "What just happened?"

"Hazard a guess," Alfred grunted, glancing around them suspiciously.

"We need to get her to the clinic," Rhonwen said, her voice firm as she picked up Summer. She started off at a brisk pace, barely even feeling the older woman's weight.

"Right," Ferrer said after a moment, following the doctor with shaky steps. "Alfred, message ahead to let Haruki know we're coming."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

 _"Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all."_

The sad meter of a piano fed very swiftly into a song that was very familiar to the Winter Fang, as it was something that they heard nearly every day. Cinder Rush glanced up at the tall tower jutting from the city's center, knowing that the echoing pulse of music was coming from there.

"Come on, Cin," Lux grunted, raising an eyebrow as the teenager stopped in the middle of the dilapidated street. The two of them were heading to a diner, the only one in operation in Beacon, to celebrate Cinder's birthday; it wasn't a custom she understood, but one that she was more than happy to pretend to. He was ignoring the music, just like everyone else on the street; in fact, Cinder reacting to the song was almost more of an oddity than the song itself, and she drew the eye of more than one Faunus going about their own business. "No sense in waiting."

"I still can't believe no one cares about that," Cinder mumbled, hastening her steps to catch up to Lux's much longer stride. He was slowing his pace so she could keep up, but it was a difficult thing for him to gauge. "I mean, seriously, we've got a ghost living in our city, and no one gives a damn!"

"You're still on about that?" Lux asked, rolling his eyes. "It's probably just some hooligans hooking a radio up to some sound system or something."

"Nuh-uh!" Cinder exclaimed, feeling her cheeks redden as she folded her arms over her chest. "There'd be at least _some_ static if that was true!"

"Oh? Then what do you think it is?" Lux asked, chuckling as he saw Cinder puff out her cheeks childishly.

"It's the Maiden in White!" Cinder declared softly, looking around as if embarrassed to be saying it. After making sure no one was listening in on their conversation, she faced Lux again, determination in her silver eyes as she added, "You know who I'm talking about, right?"

"I hope not, because that would mean that _you_ think people can live for more than two hundred years," Lux said, poking Cinder's forehead with his thumb. "Seriously, how could a Schnee still be alive?"

"Well, if you'd been listening to the radio, you'd know that there's at least _one_ Schnee in the wasteland," Cinder said, pouting and glaring simultaneously. "Not too far south of here, either."

"You're not leaving the Fang," Lux said instantly, his voice firm and holding more than a little alarm.

Cinder's pouting glare turned into a scowl, her eyes seeming to glitter in outrage. "I'll do whatever I want to, thank you very much," Cinder murmured quietly, half-growling as she flexed her hands instinctively, causing her two-inch-long claws to extend from her fingertips.

"I promised Blaze that I wouldn't let you die, Cinder," Lux growled, shooting a glare at Cinder. It was enough to make her freeze in a mix of shock and panic, but Lux had the sort of glare that would do that to just about anyone, no matter how hardened or emotionless they were; Cinder didn't stand a chance. "I'm not gonna let you leave the Fang until you've gotten at least a year in the military, okay?" Lux asked, his voice still harsh and firm.

Cinder swallowed nervously, her breaths coming in short gasps as she stared wide-eyed at Lux. "Ye-yes, sir," Cinder mumbled, her voice soft and full of her fear.

"Thank you," Lux said, closing his eyes as he turned his face away from Cinder's. "I'm sorry for snapping at you Lux, but I take my promises seriously. And since you're sixteen, they'll actually take you into the military now," Lux added with a sigh.

Cinder followed Lux obediently, but her silver eyes were narrowed. 'Only eighty miles,' Cinder thought, mentally planning out the route as she glanced down at the PIP-Boy she now wore. 'Shouldn't take more than four days, at a good pace. Even less if I can take that bike with me.'

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Ah wouldn't call it a metabolic increase," Haruki said, glancing over his shoulder at Rhonwen. He had been sitting beside Summer's cot in the medical clinic, checking her blood pressure and heart rate, when Rhonwen started asking him questions about Volka's Semblance. "It's more like... cellular regeneration. She can regrow limbs if she's got enough radiation to drink."

"That's absurd!" Rhonwen exclaimed, frowning at the doctor as he turned back to Summer's unconscious form. "Cellular regeneration on the scale it would take for a Human to regrow a lost limb is... impossible!"

Haruki snorted off a laugh, shaking his head. "Says the girl who believes in magic," he mumbled, raising one of Summer's eyelids and checking on her eye. He let it close back shut when he saw that her pupil was dilated and her iris emanating a faint silver light.

"But I've seen direct empirical evidence to support its existence!" Rhonwen said, folding her arms over her chest and sitting down at the chair she'd risen from. "Hell, you've seen it, and you're still questioning me?"

"Ah think that a lot've things could be called magic to someone," Haruki said. "Wonder if Summer thinks of Aura and Semblance as magic?" he asked, confusing Rhonwen for a moment before she understood what he was saying.

"You're saying that it's not magic if you can understand it, right?" Rhonwen asked, getting a nod in return. "That's... actually not a bad definition," Rhonwen said, her voice trailing off into a murmur. "It's been theorized that a less technologically advanced society would see our computers and weapons and such as magic, after all."

"Now yah're getting it."

Rhonwen stayed silent for a long moment, then asked, "So, hypothetically speaking, would Volka be able to 'regenerate' herself into being younger?"

Haruki shot a look over his shoulder at Rhonwen, then shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "She doesn't quite look her age, does she?"

"If I didn't know she was twenty-five, I'd say she was in her early twenties, at most," Rhonwen said, fighting the urge to chew on her lower lip. "Not much of a difference, I know, but it's there."

"Some folk just look young, Rhonwen. Don't have to mean more'n that."

"But what if it does?"

"Don't tell me you believe that tripe Penny was spilling," Haruki said, half-growling as he glanced at Summer's face to make sure she was still unconscious. "Just another rogue 'bot roaming the Waste, if'n you ask me. Their AIs go wonky, get corrupted by the radiation."

"But what if she wasn't wrong?" Rhonwen asked, frowning at Haruki's lack of reaction. "What if Volka Locke really is Yang Xiao Long? Wouldn't that be a good thing, that we've got a legend living in town? Helping protect the people?"

Haruki sighed, turning away from Summer to face Rhonwen completely. "No, it wouldn't be," Haruki spat, scowling at Rhonwen's startled expression. "Yah don't know tah shit I saw in tah Brotherhood's files, girlie. All tah shit that went down in the War... how much of it do yah think was Yang?"

"What?" Rhonwen asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yang didn't die when everyone thought she did," Haruki began. "Fact. Everyone else with her did, even though Goodwitch," Haruki paused briefly, nodding at Rhonwen's PIP-Boy, "survived long enough to tell folk that everyone died, including her. It was one of tah events that set off the war. The first was what happened to Blake Belladonna, which caused tah group of them to get sent out in tah first place. Gods, girlie, what happened to Belladonna... there's a reason the Brotherhood calls nightshade 'the Cat's Kiss', yah know."

"I didn't know that, actually," Rhonwen said, frowning at Haruki.

"Yang killed Ruby Rose," Haruki said, making Rhonwen flinch and blink in surprise again. "Fact. Though, she wasn't aiming for Ruby; she was gunning for Ruby's daughter, Summer. 'T'was sheer coincidence that Ruby was there that day. Passing through on her way to a conference, Ah think. Ruby drove off Yang, but Yang hit her with something that killed her slow. Real slow. Took her a year to die of it, and she was in pain the whole way. Wasn't tah last time Yang tried for Summer, neither; least three more attempts on her life, before the bombs dropped."

"Unholy fuck," Rhonwen mumbled, swallowing at the lump in her throat. "Then-"

"Yang killed her own father, Taiyang Xiao Long," Haruki growled, cutting her off. "Fact. Yang killed Yatsuhashi Daichi. Fact. Yang killed Nora Valkyrie, Velvet Scarlatina, Flynt Coal, Winter Schnee. Fact, fact, fact, fact." Haruki paused, then added, "Yang killed Qrow Branwen. Fact."

"I don't recognize most of those names," Rhonwen said, her voice small but firm. "What are you trying to say?"

"If Volka Locke is Yang Xiao Long," Haruki said, "then it's best she never remembers. Not for her sake, but for everyone around her." He turned back to face Summer, running through the motions of checking her vital signs again. "She's worse than tah Grimm."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Thanks for spending so much time with me, sis," Renatus said, a wooden pipe held between his fingers, smoke still trailing from the wide brim. He was sitting in the clearing in the glade, his bare feet dipped into the pool of crystal clear water in its center; Asra sat beside him, her own feet folded beneath her as she smiled at her brother. "I'm sorry I got the way I did earlier, but... you know how I am when it comes to Belladonna."

Asra's smile became strained, but she wrapped her arm around Renatus's shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. "I know. I wish it hadn't happened to you, Ren," Asra said softly, not needing to raise her voice to be heard with how close she was to her brother's ear.

Renatus sighed, thin trails of smoke billowing out from the corners of his mouth. "I don't know if I do," Renatus whispered, shocking Asra. "I hate every single second of memory I get from her, but I don't know if I'd wish this on someone else."

Asra's once more became genuine, and she hugged her brother more tightly. "You've got a good heart, Ren," Asra said. "You always have."

"Just wish I knew if it was mine or hers," Renatus mumbled, sticking the pipe back in his mouth. "Being a reincarnation sucks."

"Aha!"

The voice that came from behind them startled the pair into action, making them break apart from each other and draw their weapons as they turned to face the man who had spoken, his blue hair stained and slick with blood.

"Oh, sorry - am I interrupting?" he asked, poking a finger at his chin as he laughed. His lab coat, decorated with a yellow 22 on the left breast, flapped in the rising wind. "My mistake, don't mind me. I'll just wait to kidnap you until you're through here."

"What?" Renatus asked, his fist clenched tightly around his sword's grip. "What the Hell does that mean?"

"Oh, my boss wants to do something to you," Douglas Schnee said, swiveling his wrist dismissively. "Something about dissecting your soul to figure out how reincarnation works. But don't worry to much about that!"

"Your coat..." Asra mumbled, switching out the Dust in her gun for a yellow-and-green crystal. "You're from Vault 22."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Douglas exclaimed, bowing dramatically. "Yes, I'm from Vault 22. Nice place, bit disorderly; at least, it was when I was there. But maybe that was just me, nyahaha! The name's Douglas Schnee, and don't you forget it!"

Asra tightened her grip on her weapon, doubt flicking through her eyes. "Wait, you're Rhonwen's father?" Asra asked, drawing a sideways glance from Renatus. "I'm guessing she doesn't know that you're here, is she?"

"Nah, her blonde friend collapsed when they were chasing me, and she took her back to that town of hers," Douglas said, once more swiveling his wrist dismissively. "Cute girl. Shame the boss said she's off-limits."

"Asra, I'm gonna need to know whether you want to let me kill him or not," Renatus said, his yellow eyes narrowed as he glared at Douglas.

"Let's just knock him out," Asra said, raising her gun to aim at Douglas. "I'm sure Rhonwen will want to speak to him."

"Got it," Renatus said as he blurred into motion, black rose petals seeming to fall from his coat and trousers as he lunged at Douglas; he was in the grip of his Rose model PIP-Boy's soul fragment, letting it guide his motions as it lent him speed.

Renatus slashed at Douglas faster than his own eyes could track, and it came as a shock to him when his sword's sharpened sheath cleaved through a heavy blue mist. His eyes narrowing once more, he drew on the Dust he'd chambered in the Gambol Shroud, sending a surge of purple lightning along his blade and into the mist.

Douglas re-materialized behind Renatus a moment later, his teeth clenched tightly against the pain as he stabbed at the Faunus's back with his absurdly long scalpel, only to get a bolt of black lightning in his back. He fell to the ground, his body trembling as another bolt of lightning slammed into him again as Asra fired a second time.

Asra took her time between each shot, making sure Douglas was going to survive it. It wasn't long before his PIP-Boy belched a warning that he was below thirty percent of his Aura, and less than a minute passed between that and the warning that his Aura was broken. The moment it did, Renatus slammed his heel into the old doctor's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Sage!" Renatus called out, turning away from Douglas. "Takara!"

The two Belmonts heard muffled cursing come from nearby, and Renatus took off in the direction it was coming from, muttering an apology to Asra as he did. He returned a minute later, helping Sage carry Takara's unconscious body back to the glade. "Sorry," Sage said, limping as she walked. "He jumped us before we could see him. Knocked Takara hard on the head and hit me with some sort of Dust that shorted out my armor."

"Don't be," Renatus said, helping her ease Takara to the ground. "This asshole can turn into mist," he added, tapping his foot into Douglas's side a bit too hard to not be considered a petty kick. "There's not a ton you could do to stop that."

"How'd you two manage it, then?" Sage asked, turning to face Asra.

"Lightning," Asra said simply, tapping her gun as she swapped out the Dust crystal for a red one streaked with green. "It hit him while he was misted. Misting? Eh, whatever," Asra mumbled, trailing off.

"So, what now?" Sage asked, turning back to Renatus.

"We're already on our way to Yang's Rest," Renatus said, shrugging. "What's one more passenger?"

"Make it two," Asra said, tucking her gun back into the pocket she'd pulled it from. "I need to tell Ferrer how to hold this guy, and he won't break out the Adamantine chains on the Brotherhood's word. Unless it was to shackle a member of the Brotherhood," Asra added, glancing almost casually at Sage and Takara.

"Wonderful," Renatus muttered. "Sage, Asra, help me drag them to the car. We're going the rest of the way tonight."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I hate this," the woman mumbled, setting her pen back down on the slim wooden desk in front of her. A stack of papers sat on the desk in a small plastic bin labeled "incoming", a much smaller stack in the bin's "outgoing" twin. She let out a sigh and stood up, letting her chair roll back until it stopped on its own at the rear wall of the tent.

"Hate what?" the man in the tent asked, raising one of his eyebrows. They were a rich chocolate brown, much like the disheveled swathe of hair atop his head, blending smoothly with his bright blue eyes. The black leather duster draped over his shoulders nearly covered up his simple T-shirt and jeans, though he made sure the pentacle pendant he wore was never hidden by his coat. He leaned on a staff, six feet of thick, solid oak, that only came up to his chin and was studded with innumerable crystals of Dust in various sizes and colors.

"This," the woman spat with disgust, gesturing towards the paperwork that waited on her desk. She closed her eyes and growled, saying, "This must be a punishment of some sort, I suppose."

"Well, of course it is," the man said, rolling his eyes. "Just because you turned to the Light doesn't mean that your sins in the Dark will be forgiven so easily."

"Oh, shut it," the woman growled, opening her eyes and glaring at him. She let out another sigh that was more like another growl and ran a hand through her hair, long enough to fall to her lower back; it was done in two colors, chocolate brown on one side and a very flagrant shade of pink on the other. Her eyes were of similar colors, although they often changed sides or were substituted with a rich shade of cream. She ran a hand over her clothes, looking down at her white jacket worn over a black shirt with a measure of certainty in her eyes; the shirt was riding up her sides again, although it was pinned into her black trousers so it wouldn't expose her midriff. "I never did anything wrong, and you know it," she added, her black boots thumping loudly against the dirt beneath them as she stomped back over to her desk.

"With all due respect, you did, and _you_ know it," the man said, amusement twinkling in his eyes. "The Seraph wouldn't have placed you in this role, otherwise."

Neo glared up at the man again, and I mean glared _up_ at him; she was easily a foot and a half shorter than him, if not more. "I told you to shut it, Harold. If I wanted your opinion, I'd ask for it."

Harold rolled his eyes again, a smile briefly flitting across his lips. "I thought you hired me because I speak my mind," Harold said, not quite able to keep the laughter out of his voice. "Or was that a lie?"

"It was true at the time," Neo said, her voice taking on an odd tenor. After a moment she bit back a shriek, raw anger smoldering in her eyes as she slammed a fist down on her desk, cracking the wood. "Again!" Neo screamed, her voice back to its normal low pitch that was almost too masculine to be on the small woman. "That bitch needs to stop messing with me, or I'll... I'll..."

"You'll what?" Harold asked, raising an eyebrow at Neo's tantrum. "Get blasted back into oblivion? Cause that seems like the most likely scenario, there."

Neo's growl faded down to a whimper as she sat back down in her chair, shutting her eyes tightly as she cradled her face in her hands. "Why?" she mumbled, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "Why did she bring me back? I'd dealt with my Hell, I was at peace, and then I was back here, following the orders of someone who I can't hope to stand against. Again!"

Harold sighed, stepping around to the other side of Neo's desk. "There's no such thing as good anymore, Neo," Harold said softly, putting his hand on the woman's shoulder. "We've drawn our lots; all that's left is to see them through."

"Thanks for the pep talk," Neo spat out, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"That's the spirit!" Harold cheered, smiling as Neo shot a glare at him, her eyes no longer watery. "Just remember, Neo: I stand with you."

"Harold," Neo began, only to sigh and shake her head. "I should get back to this shit," Neo mumbled, trying to hide the blush that lit on her face. Harold smirked briefly, then returned to his position at the entrance to the tent as she got back to work.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

I'm shocked that Douglas went down so easily.

A pun?! From you?! Nyahaha, that's almost criminal!

How'd it happen?

The odds weren't in his favor. Both his opponents were armed with Lightning, and his Semblance is of Water; he was quite literally out of his element.

Oh, I see. Like how Ferrer was able to shut down Penny just by putting his hand on her.

Exactly.

One last question before I leave for the time being: how did you know about Neopolitan?

Maybe I'll tell you another day, Seraph. Or maybe your wards just aren't good enough to keep me out.

If that was true, you wouldn't be here right now.

Nyahaha! True enough!


	9. Chapter 8

It would seem we're at a bit of an impasse.

Only for the time being. Although, time's not really something that either of us have much of these days.

Indeed. Well then, Shade: do you yield?

Fuck that; you've only got me in check. Once I figure out a legal move, I'll whip your ass right good.

There isn't one.

That's what I thought when you dropped Neo into the mix, you know. Seriously, you had the fucking nerve to bring my favorite bitch back into the fray? Damn, girl, you've got some stones on you.

Ah, yes. That's why I came here.

It gets harder, doesn't it? Remembering once you've started to fade.

...

Nyahaha! Then why don't we skip the foreplay and get right to it! Or do I need to remind you where we are in the story?

No, I can remember.

For now.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

 _Blood covered the ground in a thick pool, slowly growing from the bodies that had been gathered into a pile. Summer recognized a few of them, despite the heavy wounds that had led to their deaths: Taylor the Tailor, Aina the telepathic waitress, the flora twins Ajax and Demeter. Guilt, sorrow, fear, and rage all twisted in her gut, forming a tight knot of emotion that left her feeling strangely hollow._

 _Summer turned, only to see another body fall to the ground beside her. It was Haruki, his lower jaw torn off of his face. Summer's rage grew, and she found herself holding a rifle she'd never seen before, its barrel even longer than her Brotherhood rifle's. Twisting tubes flowed down the length of the gun, each carrying liquefied Dust through the barrel._

 _A clash of steel on steel found Summer's attention, and she turned again to see Volka and Penny fighting. Though Penny's weapons were the same, Volka's sword had been replaced by a shorter sword and a shield. As Summer watched, flame spewed from a hidden barrel in the shield, driving Penny back; Volka was quick to follow up her assault, the blade of her sword segmenting and forming a roughly whip-like shape as she slashed at Penny._

 _Rhonwen appeared before them as well; at least, Summer thought it was Rhonwen until she saw the woman's hair, long and gathered into a ponytail starting at the side of her head. The Schnee jabbed her rapier at Volka, driving her away from Penny with a gale of Dust-conjured wind._

 _Before Volka could lose her footing, however, a man appeared behind her, his cat-like tail flicking from side to side as he helped brace her against the wind. His form seemed to shimmer, and he was suddenly a woman of similar features, although with cat-like ears instead of a tail. She pulled Volka to one side as Penny fired a laser at them, leaving a flickering image of herself behind to take the blast._

 _They were not the only combatants to arrive. Before long, there were more than a dozen men and woman fighting, each bearing a distinctive mark about them: Ferrer, with his white eyes and steely hair; Odessa the courier, her black hair radiating a soft brown glow; a woman Summer had never seen before, her eyes changing color every time they closed. There was a young girl, her youthful face full of fear and righteous fury, her silver eyes sparkling with her determination. There was a man, who Summer guessed was in his late thirties or early forties, standing resolute next to a young child, a boy, and conjuring blasts of multi-colored light to deflect any attacks that came their way. A raven the size of a building swooped down to join the fray, flames trailing from its talons as it swiped at anyone in reach._

 _And above them all was Ruby, standing at least two dozen feet above the ground. Her eyes were sorrowful, regretful, but her jaw was set in grim determination as she stared down at Summer. She extended her hand towards the wolf Faunus, but not to grasp for Summer's hand; it was a gesture of power, of change, and Summer looked back down to see that her weapon had changed, turning into a blocky red sniper rifle that she recognized as the Crescent Rose._

 _"Things have changed, little one," Ruby said, the battle beneath her suddenly different. Instead of fighting each other, the former foes had turned their blades against specters of darkness and constructs of white light. "A time of change is coming. You are but one of those meant to guide it; your actions will help shape the future of all of Remnant."_

 _"What?" Summer asked, her voice seeming small in comparison. "What do you mean? What change?"_

 _"There are things I cannot say, little one," Ruby said. "I'm sorry, but there is little else I can tell you. Follow your instincts, your heart: they will guide your path better than any knowledge or cryptic prophecy ever could."_

 _"I... alright," Summer said, setting her jaw. She looked around, the world seeming to become dimmer and less real as time went by._

 _"Remember these words, little one," Ruby said as the dream unraveled. "The twilight beckons."_

Summer woke up with a start, her eyes shooting wide open. Every single part of her body felt sore, like she'd somehow managed to strain every single muscle she had. "I'm in the clinic?" Summer mumbled, looking around with a frown; the simple motion gave her a headache, throbbing away behind her eyes like a jackhammer, and she slowed down until it stopped being so painful. The wall she'd broken had been repaired, although it gave Summer a sinking feeling in her chest; the needle in her arm trailing up to an IV drip only made it worse. After a moment, she realized that she wasn't alone on the cot; Summer felt her heart start beating faster when she saw the familiar head of black hair nestled against her shoulder, a pair of black cat-like ears parting the woman's hair. She smiled at Asra's sleeping figure, her lips twitching further upwards when she heard a light snore coming from her. Summer lowered her lips to her girlfriend's forehead, planting a light kiss that just happened to wake her up.

"Summer?" Asra muttered, blinking sleepily as she looked up at Summer.

"Hey," Summer said, still smiling. Asra blinked again, her sleepiness fading away as she realized that Summer was awake. "How long was I out for?" Summer asked, worry tightening her eyes and stripping her smile from her.

"Oh, thank the gods," Asra mumbled softly, wrapping her arms around Summer as best she could while they were both laying down. "It's only been two days," Asra answered, bringing Summer's smile back, at least for the moment. "I was so worried when Ferrer told me what happened, Summer. Are you feeling alright?" Asra asked, looking into Summer's eyes, her own yellow eyes filled with concern.

"I'll be okay," Summer said, wrapping her own arm around Asra's waist, placing her palm at the small of Asra's back. "Everything hurts a bit right now, but it'll pass."

"Do you want anything? Some Med-X, or a glass of water, or anything?" Asra asked, making Summer chuckle at her girlfriend's worrying.

"Some water would be great," Summer conceded, feeling a bit regretful when Asra disentangled herself and stood up from the bed.

"I'll be right back," Asra said apologetically, hurrying away to fetch Summer some water.

Summer sighed as Asra left the clinic, her arm still warm were the cat Faunus had snuggled against it in her sleep. She glanced down at her arm with a frown, looking at the Rose model PIP-Boy she wore curiously, realizing that someone else must have put it on her. "You listening, Ruby?" Summer asked quietly, her voice almost inaudible. A moment passed in silence, and Summer sighed again. "No, I guess it was just a dream."

Summer sat up, gasping as her sore muscles protested the movement. Strenuously. She jerkily moved her pillows to the small of her back, then leaned back against them, taking some of the strain off of her abdomen. She sat there, panting, a thin line of drool trailing down from her lips to her chin.

That was how she was when Asra got back, a canteen of water in her hands. She chewed her lip as she walked over to Summer's side, wincing as her teeth found the scar she'd made on it more than a week ago, during the battle with the Dust-augmented Nevermore. Asra didn't say anything for a moment, instead choosing to sit beside her girlfriend and wipe the spittle from her face with her hand, an action that confused Summer.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Asra asked, handing the canteen to Summer.

"I'm... I'm not sure," Summer admitted, holding the canteen absently, as if unsure whether to drink from it or not. "I had a weird dream," she added, glancing down at her PIP-Boy.

"You wanna talk about it?" Asra asked, wrapping an arm around Summer's shoulders.

"Sure, I guess," Summer said, unscrewing the lid on the canteen and taking a long pull from it before she started describing her dream to Asra. "I don't really know where I was, I guess. It wasn't really important, but I think we were outside. There was a lot of blood on the ground, and a pile of bodies nearby," Summer continued, trying her best to ignore Asra's wince. "I saw Volka and Penny fighting, but then a couple of people I've never seen before jumped in: one looked like Rhonwen, but with long hair and a scar over her left eye, and the other... actually, the other looked a lot like a male version of you," Summer said, looking at Asra in confusion. The cat Faunus drew back, blinking in surprise, before she settled against Summer again.

"Can you remember anything else about him?" Asra asked, further confusing Summer.

"Uh, I think so," Summer said, frowning, her eyes squinted so far that they were nearly closed. "I think he was wearing something fancy, like a suit or something. He had a tail, too, not cat ears like you do. Uh, what else... I didn't really get much chance to look at him, really. He turned into a woman who looked a lot more like you before long," Summer sighed.

Asra's jaw dropped open, only for her to close it and start chewing on her lip again. "Summer, have I ever told you about my brother?" Asra asked, making Summer shake her head. "His name is Renatus. He's a good guy, but... he's got some issues to deal with."

Summer snorted off a laugh, shaking her head again. "Sounds like a lot of people out here," Summer mumbled darkly, despite the small smile she wore.

"His issues are a bit more... personal, I guess," Asra said, trying to find a way to not just spring it on Summer. After a long moment, she sighed, and said, "Look, I don't know how to get to this without just blurting it out, so I'm just gonna blurt it out: he's the reincarnation of Blake Belladonna, our ancestor and one of Ruby Rose's friends."

Summer blinked at her, shocked, before she looked down at her PIP-Boy with a frown. "What's his Semblance?" Summer asked quietly, staring intently at the device that contained a fragment of her own ancestor's soul.

"He can gain a burst of momentum and leave an image of himself behind," Asra said, her voice just as quiet. "Just like Blake."

"Then it must've been him in my dream," Summer said, raising her eyes to look into Asra's. Summer licked her lips, suddenly very worried. "There was more to it, though," she said, looking back down at her PIP-Boy as she felt a chill run up her spine. "Ruby was there."

"Oh," Asra mumbled, glancing down at Summer's PIP-Boy as well before tightening her grip on her girlfriend's shoulders. "Oh gods."

"Do the words 'the twilight beckons' mean anything to you?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer didn't know what to think. On the one hand, she was no longer in pain; on the other, she couldn't really feel her limbs any more. What's more, there was an odd disconnect between her thoughts and her emotions, as if the latter had become less important somehow. Letting out a deep sigh, she decided to never use Med-X ever again, if she could help it; for now, though, it was practically a necessity.

She walked into the Sunset Diner, Asra at her side, and let her eyes lock onto the booth that held the diner's only patrons; evidently, most of the town was uncomfortable spending much time with the Brotherhood of Dust. She strode over to them confidently, still feeling her anxiety but not really caring about it.

"Excuse me," Summer said, making an effort to be polite despite the impatience she was feeling. Renatus Belmont turned to face her, recoiling when he saw her and blinking rapidly as memories that weren't his fluttered through his mind.

"You're..." Renatus muttered, staring at Summer. "You look just like Ruby."

"Bizarrely, that's not the first time I've heard that," Summer said, looking at each of his companions. "Mind if I ask you a few questions, Renatus?"

Renatus turned slightly, facing Asra now instead of Summer. "This is your girlfriend?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Asra blushed. "She's... not exactly what I was expecting."

"Some things have been happening," Asra said, attempting to explain. "She needed a painkiller just to walk over here."

"Yeah, that'll do it," Takara said, staring quizzically at Summer. "A lot of painkillers and pain relievers can have the side effect of suppressing emotional responsiveness."

"Yeah, well, that's great," Summer said, brushing off their conversation. "So, can I ask you some questions or not, Renatus? They're kind of important."

"We're not leaving him alone with you," Sage growled, narrowing her orange eyes at Summer. As she wasn't wearing her armor, her exquisitely feminine face was free for all to see, as were her eyes and the green stubble atop her head; she found it easier to wear her armor's helmet if she just kept her head shaved, rather than trying to put her hair up in a bun or something.

"I didn't ask you to," Summer said, giving the Star Paladin a disinterested look before turning her attention back to Renatus.

"That's fine, I guess," Renatus said, scooting over in the booth to make room for the two of them. "You want to join us, or...?"

"That's probably a good idea," Asra said, smiling at her brother as she sat down next to him, purposefully creating a buffer between him and Summer in case something went wrong. "I could use some breakfast."

"It's two in the afternoon," Takara said dryly, staring at Summer suspiciously.

"And I'm practically nocturnal," Asra said, shooting a dirty glance at Takara. "My Semblance is powered by the moon, remember?"

"First thing's first," Summer began, half-mumbling as she took a deep breath to steady herself. "The twilight beckons," Summer said, looking directly into Renatus's eyes. He blinked, surprised, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You're a Follower?" Renatus asked, glancing at Asra.

"Not as such, no," Summer said, tapping a finger against her PIP-Boy. "Ruby visited me in a dream and told me to remember those words. What do they mean?"

"The twilight beckons, and the light shall push it away," Renatus said, an odd tenor coming over his voice. "The twilight is what will happen if darkness claims the world, wraps it in a shadow so thick that the light can hardly pierce it. This is what we Followers of the Apocalypse believe."

"What?" Summer asked, taken aback by his answer. "I thought you were part of the Brotherhood?"

"That doesn't mean I believe in it," Renatus said, leaning back in his seat. He let out a weary sigh before he continued, saying, "The Brotherhood has some... it's got some shitty policies," Renatus admitted after a moment, glancing at his sister. "Homosexuals are banished, no matter how valuable they are to the community, because some ass-hats think that they won't contribute to re-population; it doesn't take in any new members, barring some extremely exceptional circumstances, which means that we're only a few generations away from being completely inbred, unless we start telling people who they can and can't have kids with, and that'll only buy us a few extra generations; and, for the most part, it refuses to actually help anyone with anything, instead taking away Dust, medicine, and damn near everything else that _everyone_ needs in some asinine attempt to protect people from themselves."

Summer's eyes widened as she pointedly looked at the man's two companions. "We're Followers, too," Sage said, nodding her head at Summer. "We know what he's saying is true."

"I see," Summer mumbled, facing Renatus once more. "Then tell me: what are your goals? As an organization, I mean."

"We want to make sure everyone can live in peace, free of the wars and endless cycles of violence that plague Remnant," Renatus said. "Our camps research medicine, crop development, all sorts of things that'll help once we actually achieve that goal. But, in order to actually manage it, we'd need to cut off the Grimm at the source."

"The Shade," Summer growled, her hands balling into fists on her lap.

"You know of it?"

"My friend's father was taken by it," Summer spat, making Renatus's eyes widen.

"You mean it's active?" Renatus asked, his voice quiet. "Gods, that's... heavy."

"It'll be alright," Aina said as she stepped up to their table, bearing a wide tray. "The silver-eyed warriors have beaten the Shade in the past, and they can do it again," she added as she started unloading the tray, setting plates of food and mugs and glasses full of cold drinks down in front of everyone, including Asra and Summer, who hadn't ordered. "Don't worry, Summer: there's no alcohol in it," Aina said to Summer, making the wolf Faunus blush.

"Thanks, Aina," Summer said, half-mumbling as she picked up her venison steak sandwich; it had quickly become her favorite food in the unhurried week she'd spent in Yang's Rest as a mechanic, and she'd made a point of ordering it every time she'd come to the Sunset Diner. It was paired with a glass of strawberry lemonade, her second favorite drink; her favorite was the hard apple cider, as it came out with a different type of alcohol every time she'd ordered it.

"I didn't know you were a Follower," Asra noted, narrowing her eyes at the waitress. "Why'd you keep it from me?"

"Because you aren't exactly an active member, Asra," Aina said, a light smile on her lips as she shifted the tray, settling it against her chest and holding the bottom edge with both hands. "You're busy far too often to be kept in the loop on some of the more... important things. Plus, most people would freak out if they learned that a telepath was part of a half-secret society like ours. By the way, welcome to the team, Summer," Aina added, nodding her head at Summer.

"Th-thanks," Summer said around a bite of her sandwich; she was already a third of the way through it, and had eaten a few of the carrots and potato wedges that had accompanied it. "You said something about the 'silver-eyed warriors'?" Summer asked once she'd swallowed her food.

Aina's smile turned sly, and she nodded her head deeply, almost seeming to bow to Summer. "I was wondering when I'd tell you about them," Aina noted, letting out a giggle when she saw Summer blush again. "Your eyes have powers against the Grimm, although you seem to have learned that already. Before the time of Huntsmen, the silver-eyed warriors were all that stood between us and the Grimm; I once heard a thought that the Huntsmen were made to emulate them, potentially setting us free from servitude to a bloodline."

"So, they're genetic," Summer mumbled. She froze after a moment, her blood running cold as she looked up at Aina. "Wait, does that mean that I'm the last person with these eyes?"

"Not necessarily," Aina said, brushing off Summer's fear. "I doubt it was just the Roses who had silver eyes, and they're not exactly a dominant trait; they were rare even before the war. At least, that's what I've heard. It's entirely possible that Ruby's father and mother both had silver eyes as a recessive trait, which would be why they appeared on her."

"Yes, we're all aware of how genetic inheritance works, Aina," Renatus said, scowling at the waitress.

"Gods, you Belmonts really need to learn how to be polite," Aina stage-whispered, her voice easily carrying to everyone at the booth as she rolled her eyes dramatically. "I don't know much more," Aina said apologetically, turning her eyes back to Summer. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the answers to the questions you've got running through your mind right now, Summer. If you ever come up with some I can answer, well, you know where to find me."

And with that, the telepathic waitress left, walking off into a back room in the diner.

"Well, that was a thing," Sage said, idly pushing a cherry tomato around on her plate with her fork; she'd ordered a salad to go with her burger, both heavily laden with bacon and barbecue sauce. "So, you got any more questions, girl, or are you gonna leave now?" Sage asked, halfheartedly glaring at Summer as she popped the tomato into her mouth.

"Yes, actually," Summer said, scowling at Sage for a brief moment before she turned her attention back to Renatus. "In my dream, there were a bunch of people I didn't recognize. You were one of them, but you appeared after a woman, a Schnee, with long hair and a rapier."

"That sounds like Weiss, if I had to guess," Renatus said, wincing as if the memories were painful to him. "I don't think she's alive right now, but, since we've got me and Penny wandering around, it seems like that might be a possibility."

"There was also a bird, a raven, the size of a building, with burning talons," Summer said, making Asra raise an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry, I haven't heard anything about that one," Renatus said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay... how about a woman, couple years younger than me, with orange hair and silver eyes?" Summer asked, making Renatus frown.

"I think so," Renatus said, tapping a finger against his chin. "I think I saw someone like that when I went to trade with the Winter Fang a few years back, but I can't really remember if she had silver eyes or not. She was apprenticed to a mechanic, if I remember correctly."

Summer nodded slowly, making a mental note to visit the Winter Fang at some point in the future. "Okay, then let's try this one: a man, long black duster, brown hair, staff studded with lots of Dust crystals."

Renatus narrowed his eyes, then sighed, shaking his head. "I've got nothing on that one," Renatus said.

"Another woman, her hair in two colors, brown and pink."

Renatus blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes again. "Did her eyes change color, too?" Renatus asked, the look in his eyes distant, as if he was trying to remember something.

"Yeah," Summer said. "Same colors as her hair, and sometimes a creamy color, too."

"Well, she's not someone I've ever met," Renatus said slowly, balling his fingers into a fist, "but Blake met a woman like that. She was one of the Shade's henchmen in Blake's youth, before the Second Great War, and I mean henchmen: she was bottom rung of a long ladder of the Shade's people. Blake and her team called her 'Neo', though I don't know for sure if that's her name or just something they started calling her."

"Could she be relevant?" Summer asked.

"If Weiss is alive somehow, then I'd give even odds that Neo's out there somewhere, too. Anyone else?"

Summer frowned, then shook her head. "Those are all who stuck with me," Summer said, picking up a carrot and staring at it. "I feel like there were more, but I can't remember them if there were."

"If that's it, then piss off," Sage growled, although there was a considerable lack of hostility to her tone.

Renatus sighed, shaking his head. "I hope you'll forgive Sage," Renatus said, realizing halfway into his sentence that he hadn't introduced his companions. "Most of the Brotherhood is feeling a bit... testy, when it comes to outsiders these day."

Sage snorted derisively. "I just want to make sure you don't jeopardize yourself," Sage said, glancing at Renatus before returning her scowl to Summer. "You've got enough people trying to assassinate you without some outsider trying to get in your pants."

"Yeah, that's not going to be an issue," Summer said, leaning further back in the booth with a shudder. "I've got no intention of ever going after a man."

"Oh? And why's that?" Sage asked, not letting up her stare for a moment.

"Well, I was nearly raped when I was twelve," Summer said, her almost casual manner making Sage flinch. "And then my therapist tried to rape me less than a year later. And only a week... week and a half ago, my mentor tried to rape me."

"... Shit," Sage muttered after a moment, hanging her head. "I'm sorry... I didn't know."

" _I_ didn't know," Asra said, staring wide-eyed at Summer. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It never came up," Summer said, shrugging one shoulder as she munched on a carrot. "And how am I supposed to bring up something like that? 'Thanks for having lunch with me, oh and by the way three people tried to rape me'?"

"What happened to them?" Renatus asked, his eyes distant and unfocused; despite that, though, Summer could clearly see that he was angry.

"The first one tried it in the locker room next to the firing range; I got lucky enough to find a gun, and shot him in the leg. Bullet went clear through an artery, and he bled out too quickly for anyone to do anything for him. As for the second... let's just say I bit down and leave it at that," Summer said, swallowing as the memory of blood and raw meat filled her mouth. "As for my mentor... that's a longer story than I'm willing to tell, but I shot him before he could take more than a few steps towards me."

"Good," Renatus said, nodding his head. He winced, then added, "Not that you had to kill them, or were nearly raped, but that they're dead, I mean."

The rest of their meal passed in silence, for the most part, with any attempts at conversation buried under the weight of the topics that came before them. Asra noticed that Summer ate the rest of her veggies before she returned to her steak sandwich, and only ate it halfheartedly, as if it was suddenly disgusting to her; the cat Faunus said nothing, but made an effort to remember it, just in case it ever came up again.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You finished fixing the car?" Asra asked, staring at Summer. The two of them were in Summer's room, in the house she shared with Rhonwen; Asra had refused to leave Summer alone after they'd had lunch together, since she knew that she'd have to leave soon if she wanted to make the delivery to the NCR on time, and had wanted to spend as much time with Summer as possible. So, after spending the day together, she'd broached the subject to Summer, then made a lame joke about the car not being done, which led to Summer telling her that it was, in fact, fully repaired. "Seriously?"

"Yes," Summer said, a small smile on her lips as she nodded. The dose of Med-X she'd had earlier was wearing off, and her aches and pains were returning, though she found them tolerable for the moment; at least, that's what Asra thought when her smile became pained. "I got the engine swapped out and filled the Dust reservoirs, so all I've got left is either cosmetic or not wholly necessary. I _would_ like to stick a turret or two on it, after seeing some of the things that are out here, but that's a bit of a stretch goal right now."

"Summer, that's..." Asra trailed off, still staring wide-eyed at Summer. "Thank you," Asra finally said after a moment, wrapping Summer in a tight hug. "Can I take it tomorrow, then?"

"No," Summer said, smirking as Asra did a double take, jerking away from her. "Unless you think you're 'taking it' if I go with you, that is."

"What?" Asra asked, momentarily confused before she understood what Summer was saying. "Why?"

"Because if I messed something up, I need to be there to fix it," Summer said simply. "I want you safe and sound, yeah, but I don't want you to have to abandon my car out in the Wasteland, either. And I guess you could say I'm kinda wondering why everyone calls it a Wasteland, too," Summer added, scratching her cheek sheepishly.

Asra let out a soft chuckle, then planted a kiss on Summer's lips. "Alright," Asra murmured into Summer's ear, causing the younger Faunus to blush. "You can come with me."

"No, she can't," came Rhonwen's voice through the closed door to Summer's room, making the pair of women stop and glance at the door. Rhonwen opened it a moment later, revealing that she was already in her sleepwear, a simple tank top paired with some _very_ form-fitting pajama bottoms. "She only came out of her coma _today_ , Asra," Rhonwen chided, scowling at the older woman. "She needs medical supervision that she can't get if you two go gallivanting out on some delivery together."

"She was only asleep for two days, Rhonwen," Asra countered, narrowing her eyes at the taller woman. "That's not much of a coma, if you ask me."

"A coma's a coma," Rhonwen said, her scowl turning into a full-blown glare. "It doesn't matter how long it lasts, it can leave lasting problems that need to be observed to be discovered, and a clinic is one of the best places to find them."

"Enough," Summer said with a sigh, shaking her head as the two women turned their gazes to her. "Rhonwen, you want me to have medical supervision?" Summer asked, drawing a nod from the Schnee. "The car seats five, so why not come with us?"

"Excuse me?" Rhonwen asked, blinking at Summer; she wasn't offended so much as taken aback.

"If you're with me, then I have your supervision, and I promise that I'll do whatever you think is best for me. Within reason, I mean," Summer said, not quite able to keep a light blush from appearing on her cheeks. After a moment, where Rhonwen seemed to be considering the offer, Summer added, "I bet you're just as eager to see the world as me, so why not use this as an excuse?"

Rhonwen sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine," she grumbled, although Summer and Asra could see happiness in the young woman's blue eyes. "I'll talk to Haruki in the morning, make sure I've got enough medical supplies in case there's an emergency." She sighed again, then, a mournful expression on her face, added, "I just wish I didn't have to leave my father behind."

"Your father?" Summer asked. "What... when did... what?"

"A lot's happened since you fell unconscious, Summer," Asra said, drawing the wolf Faunus's attention to her. "I met my brother by chance out in the field, then Douglas showed up while we were talking and attacked us, trying to kidnap him. We detained him and dragged him back here, and he's wearing Adamantine shackles in a jail cell right now."

Summer blinked, surprised, then turned back to Rhonwen, a frown marring her features. "Is that why you wanted me to stay, Rhonwen?" Summer asked, her voice quiet; Rhonwen flinched at the hurt in it.

Rhonwen turned away, hiding her eyes from Summer's. "It's not the only reason," Rhonwen said, her voice just as quiet. "I can't say that it isn't one of them, though. And I can't say that it's wholly rational, either; yes, I want my father back, but I don't want to hurt you to do it, and right now I don't think you can do it without it hurting you a lot."

Summer closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then nodded her head. "Alright then," Summer said, schooling her voice back into its normal tone. "I need more practice, and the best way to find Grimm to practice on is by leaving Yang's Rest." Rhonwen turned back to face Summer, her frown full of shame and self-disgust. "Let's take a trip, okay? We can work on this in the car ride to... to wherever it is we need to go," Summer said, raising an eyebrow at Asra.

"An NCR encampment, called Camp Epsilon," Asra said, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Delivery's to Lieutenant Irving, the guy in charge of that camp."

"So, how about it, Rhonwen?" Summer asked, turning back to Rhonwen with a smile. "You in?"

Rhonwen stood silently for a long moment, but then she smiled and gave a single fierce nod. "I'm in."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I can't believe you three wanted to leave without me," Volka griped, loading a backpack full of supplies into the trunk of Summer's car. It was looking a lot better than when the Faunus had first started working on it: the dents had been removed, mostly thanks to Ferrer and his Semblance; the windshield had been entirely replaced with a thick sheet of glass-like rubber, instead of filling in the missing pieces of glass in the web-like windshield; and it had been given a nice long bath with a number of chemicals to wash away all of the stained-on gore. The grey steel shone brightly in the afternoon sunlight, thanks to the polishing Summer had given it while Asra napped in the backseat; the two of them still weren't on the same sleep schedule.

"I didn't know if you were still in town, V," Summer said, rolling her eyes as the blonde shot a pouting glare her way. She was back in her favored outfit, a black tunic with only one sleeve and bearing a pattern of white crosses with red trim, a black skirt that splayed out into carefully formed ribbons beneath mid-thigh, each bordered by ridges of white and bearing a cross made from red thread, and a pair of black leather boots that came up to mid-calve, her weather-proofed red cloak draped over her shoulders and a quartet of canvas pouches worn across the white sash she wore as a belt. She also had her Imp, a simple 9mm handgun, in its holster at her hip; Summer was also bringing along her shotgun and her sniper rifle, which she had decided to name Harpy and Incubus respectively, but had stowed them in the trunk for the time being. "I _was_ in a coma for two days, you know."

"You always use that excuse," Volka joked, drawing a giggle from Summer. "Now, where should I put my sword?" Volka mumbled to herself, contemplating strapping it to the side of one of the doors in case she needed it in a hurry; it was a Pre-War Huntsman weapon, owned by Yang Xiao Long's uncle, Qrow Branwen, and Volka had appropriately dubbed it the Qrow's Talon. Much like Summer, she was wearing her normal outfit, a pair of green, bell-bottomed trousers and a simple white blouse, unbuttoned far enough to show the lacy fringe of her bra and the generous expanse of cleavage her hefty breasts could present. Volka's jacket was made of the same brown leather as her combat boots, only barely fell below the curves of her breasts, and was not worn to cover them.

"You're in the backseat with me, so just keep it on your lap," Summer said. "Or on the floor. That should be close enough, right?"

"You're not driving?" Volka asked, raising an eyebrow at the wolf Faunus.

Summer shook her head. "Asra's going to be driving, for the most part. Rhonwen and I don't know the way or how to drive, and you want to be ready to guard us at a moment's notice, so it makes sense to let her drive."

"And you're not going to be in the front with her?"

"I need the leg room more," Rhonwen said as she walked over to them, carrying a duffel bag and a backpack. Unlike Summer and Volka, she'd decided to mix things up a bit with her outfit; instead of her normal blouse and trousers, she wore a black T-shirt with a grinning skull print and a pleated black skirt that bore a pattern of crosses made up of smaller versions of the skull on her shirt, though she still wore her Vault 22 lab coat and a pair of sporty canvas shoes. She bore no weapons, but that was because she didn't need any; her now deceased mother, Gwendolen Schnee, had taught her how to make her fists and feet as deadly as any blade. "In case you need me to remind you, Volka, I _am_ the tallest person in this little group of ours."

This only caused Volka to laugh and shake her head. "Yep, us four descendants of Team RWBY," Volka said with a smile. "I wonder what our team name would be... probably something like 'SAVR' for 'Savior', or 'SRVA' for 'Survival'."

"SAVR's a bit haughty, isn't it?" Rhonwen asked.

"Hold on a moment," Summer protested. "Why am I the team leader?"

"Hmm, if I was the leader, our team name would be 'RAVS'," Rhonwen mused as she stuffed her supplies into the trunk of the car.

"And how would you say that?" Volka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ravish," Rhonwen said gleefully, grinning widely as Summer sputtered and blushed.

"Hey!" Asra called, leaning out of the driver-side window and scowling at all three of them. Her black greatcoat, which fell to ribbons below the waist, was buttoned to the top, as per usual with her, as was her pair of black leather boots, although Summer knew that she was wearing a thin pink camisole beneath it instead of her normal black tank top, and her very tight shorts were a dark purple instead of her usual black. Her weapon, a Dust-powered Blaster Pistol, was tucked into a pocket of her coat, as were several different Dust crystals that she could load into it, and cycled through frequently enough that they weren't at risk of degrading. "Are we going or not?"

"Well, looks like we know who our leader is," Volka joked, closing the trunk once Rhonwen was done.

"Indeed," Rhonwen said, opening the passenger side door and sliding into her seat. "Now, the only question is 'what's our team's name?'"

"What?" Asra asked, frowning at Rhonwen as Summer and Volka got into the backseat, Volka placing her sword (in its compact form) in the space between her legs and the seat in front of her, which happened to be Rhonwen's.

"Oh, we were just talking like we were Huntress trainees," Volka said, making Asra's frown deepen. "You know, take the first initial of each of our names and try to make a team name out of it?"

"It has to evoke a color, too," Summer added, making Asra look at her.

"What?" Asra repeated after a moment, drawing a chuckle from Volka. "Okay, we're starting off with this, I guess," Asra mumbled, turning so that she was completely in her seat. She fumbled with the key, managing to stick it in the ignition on her second try, and turned it, causing the engine to start drawing on the Dust that powered it. The car rumbled to life, a low, contented growl that made Rhonwen stiffen in her seat. "V, can you message Ferrer and tell him that we're heading out now?"

"Sure thing, Asra," Volka said, raising her PIP-Boy and opening its messaging app as Asra shifted the car into drive and they started moving, leaving Summer's garage behind. They'd been parked outside it, of course; if they hadn't, Summer would've had to get out right then and lock it up!

"So, back to the team name," Rhonwen said, making Volka chuckle again as she typed out a quick message. "Hmm... it has to start with an A, since Asra's obviously our leader."

"What?" Asra asked yet again, drawing giggles from Summer and Rhonwen. "Um, okay, I'll play along. Uh... AS... R... V?"

"Ooh, Ass-Reave," Rhonwen cooed, making Summer's giggles abruptly turn into a choked sound as she sputtered. "Can't say I don't like the sound of that."

Asra snorted off a laugh and shook her head, keeping her eyes on the gravel shod road ahead of them as she slowly drove through Yang's Rest. "Of course you wouldn't," Asra mumbled. "Well," she continued, bringing her voice back up to an audible level, "how about... ASVR?"

Rhonwen blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "I don't know if that actually makes anything," Rhonwen admitted after a moment, glancing over at Summer, who shrugged. "Well, at least now I've got more respect for the people who made those names. That's something. Ah, wait! Ass-Reaver!" she suddenly exclaimed, making Volka and Asra chuckle and causing Summer to blush again.

"Aiming for something a little less... Rhonwen," Summer began, causing the Schnee to pout at her, "we could go with AVRS, for Avarice."

"Yeah, but we're not all that greedy," Volka said. "At least, I'm not."

"Didn't you once say that it wasn't worth getting paid if you weren't getting at least a hundred caps?" Asra asked, fighting the urge to glance over her shoulder at the blonde; driving wasn't something she was used to, and it was really messing with her conversational instincts.

"Okay, I _may_ have said that," Volka admitted, drawing a giggle from Summer. "But to be fair, I _was_ talking about making money for Yang's Rest. Not for me."

"And then there was the time you tried to get Ferrer to pay you thirty caps for an apple," Asra said, a smile spreading over her lips. "A half-rotten apple."

"Hey, we had the twins just getting started at the time, and I figured starting an orchard would be a good call!" Volka protested, drawing outright laughter from both Summer and Rhonwen.

"And we're clear of Yang's Rest," Asra pointed out, abruptly changing the conversation as they meandered past the last guard tower at the southern edge of the city. "Last chance to go back if you forgot anything."

"I've got everything I need," Summer said, leaning forward to put her hand on Asra's shoulder. Asra smiled, glancing up at the rear-view mirror to look at her girlfriend before she turned her eyes back to the road; well, calling it a road is a bit generous, but it was a clearly defined path heading in the direction they wanted to go, so let's call it a road.

"Aw, that's so adorable," Rhonwen cooed, gazing fondly at the pair of Faunus...es. Fauni? Eh, fuck it, just say Faunus is plural. "I've got nothing worth going back for right now, so I'm fine," Rhonwen added, smirking at the blushes that adorned their faces.

Volka chuckled, then shook her head. "I'm good, too. Remember, I'm as used to travel as you are, Asra."

Asra shot a playful scowl at Volka, then started speeding up the car. "That's why I wasn't really asking you, V," Asra said.

Volka put a hand over her heart, unable to keep her grin off her face as she said, "The moment you find someone else our love means nothing? For shame, Asra, for shame."

"So, we're going south, right?" Summer asked, eager to get a conversation going that wouldn't lead to somewhere sexual.

"Yeah, but only for a couple hundred miles," Asra said. "Then we'll head east for the last four hundred or so."

"Why not just head straight there?" Summer asked.

"That'd take us right through an irradiated jungle that I'm pretty sure only Volka could survive in," Asra said, fighting the urge to glance at the blonde in the backseat. "Plus, the parts that are survivable are home to some pretty nasty Grimm called Umigumo. Pretty much the only Grimm I've ever heard of actually being venomous, and the radiation just makes their venom all the more dangerous; I heard it turns downright acidic if they get enough rads in them."

"Yikes," Summer said, repressing the urge to shudder. "Does it persist after they die?"

"Probably, yeah," Asra said. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Because everything I've read about the Grimm says that they dissolve after they die," Summer said, confusion and curiosity etched into her frown. "And what happened a week ago, too. Every Grimm we killed during that attack disappeared pretty quickly. I wonder why their venom would persist?"

"Probably because the Grimm are fucked and do everything they can to fuck us up," Volka grumbled. "I wish the Huntsmen and Huntresses were still around. Then we might not have to deal with them as often."

"How often do you need to deal with them?" Summer asked, drawing a frustrated sigh from Volka.

"They attack Yang's Rest every few months, though there's no real pattern or consistency to it," Volka said. "Sometimes the attack is just a handful of Beowolves, and our militia can put it down before it even gets to us; other times are... well, like last week, where we barely had any warning and a bunch of deaths and injuries. Lot of property damage, too."

"How do you carry on joking, then?" Rhonwen asked, turning to face Volka, who noted that the Schnee's face was turning a bit green. "I mean, I know I'm incorrigible, but how do you keep on being... well, _you_ , despite all that?"

"You just keep going forward, and try not to look behind you," Summer said, swallowing at the lump that appeared in her throat. She let out a chuckle that sounded a good deal less miserable than she felt right then, and added, "Weird to hear the history nerd say that, huh? Especially since I was just about to quote Ruby, too."

Silence reigned for a solid minute, awkward and sad, before Rhonwen hiccuped, gritting her teeth to suppress her urge to gag. "You okay, Rhonwen?" Summer asked, worry creasing her brow.

"Yeah, just feeling a bit sick," Rhonwen mumbled, pressing her hand over her lips as she belched. "Ugh. Fuck, I hope it's not motion sickness." She hiccuped again as the car went over a patch of uneven ground, tears forming in her eyes. "Fuck, I _really_ hope it isn't."

"Well, giving how you've been handling the last couple of days, you might be... you know," Volka said, biting her lower lip.

"Can't be," Rhonwen said, waving one hand dismissively. "I'm infertile."

"Really?" Summer asked, tilting her head to one side as she stared at Rhonwen.

"Yep," Rhonwen said, swallowing down the gorge rising in her throat. "Thank fuck, or I'd've been pregnant before I turned fourteen." Volka flinched at the word, turning to look out her window.

"Then either you've got motion sickness, or you managed to catch something at some point," Summer said, trying to steer the conversation away from pregnancy so that Volka wouldn't get any more depressed. "Which means that I'm likely to catch it sooner or later. Joy."

"Why's that?" Asra asked, only half-listening to the conversation.

"Summer and I grew up in Vaults; our only exposure to diseases has likely been immune booster shots to keep us from catching the deadlier diseases that might still be around," Rhonwen said, swallowing again. "Our immune systems aren't as used to foreign contaminants as yours are. So if I've caught something, and we're in the same car for hours every day..."

"Hell of a time to find this out, if that's the case," Summer pointed out, grimacing. "I'm gonna go ahead and hope that its motion sickness. Sorry, Rhonwen."

"In your place, I'd be wishing the same," Rhonwen said irritably, fighting the urge to gag again.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Are you sure you don't me with you?" Ebeneezer asked, raising an eyebrow at Ferrer. The sheriff was wearing his normal attire, a duster over simple clothes, as well as his metal pauldron over his right shoulder, although he wasn't carrying his Adamantine long sword and four foot tall tower shield at the moment; they sat atop the desk next to him, pressing down heavily on the sturdy oak.

The mayor of Yang's Rest, on the other hand, had decided to go for a change. He wore a basic white T-shirt, stained with soot and scorched black in places, as well as a pair of black trousers that ended a few inches before his ankles, exposing his black leather boots in their entirety. Atop all that, he wore a white greatcoat, one shoulder irrevocably stained from heavy exposure to flame. His steel bracers, multiple inches thick at their widest points, wrapped around his forearms from wrist to elbow; they were the only weapons he'd ever needed.

"I'll be fine," Ferrer said, his white eyes flicking over to the sheriff for a brief moment before they returned to the wrought-iron bars of the cell door in front of him. Behind it was a man, his blue hair stained with dried blood, his brown eyes holding a half-insane glee as he stared back at Ferrer. "Wait outside. If you hear me shout, come back in."

"Got it," Ebeneezer said, nodding his head. He collected his sword and shield, resting the soul-sucking metal blade against his pauldron to keep it from mingling with his Aura. "What if I hear him shout?"

"Then stay outside," Ferrer said, his voice bearing a remarkably dangerous tone. Ebeneezer blinked at the man, then nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him. Ferrer sighed when the sheriff left his own office, tension leaving his shoulders as he ran a hand through his steel-grey hair. "Finally one on one with you," Ferrer muttered, still glaring at Douglas Schnee. "No chance of anyone walking in on us now."

"Ooh, Ferrer," Douglas cooed sarcastically. "Why didn't you tell me you felt this way about me before?"

"Assuming that's you and not your master, I can see where Rhonwen gets it," Ferrer snarked right back, rolling his eyes. He walked over to Ebeneezer's desk and leaned back against it, folding his arms over his chest; he never took his eyes off of Douglas. "Now, how about you tell me exactly why you're in Yang's Rest?"

Douglas cackled, a throaty _nyahaha_ that bounced off the walls maliciously. "Is that what this place is called?" he asked, grinning like a mad man. "My, my, for so called 'Emblems of Humanity', your lot sure picked the wrong woman to venerate."

"Yes, yes, Yang was yours for a long time," Ferrer said, waving his hand dismissively. "That's old news. Why are you in Yang's Rest?"

Douglas's eyes turned blue as he kept grinning at the mayor. "That depends on which 'you' you mean," Douglas said, cackling again. " _I'm_ here to check in on my daughter, make sure she's doing alright out here."

"You know exactly which you I mean," Ferrer said, his own eyes flashing a steely grey. "I ask you thrice, why are you here, in my town, Shade?"

Douglas cackled yet again, tugging against his Adamantine manacles in a futile attempt to clap. "To do what I do best, Seraph," Douglas said with a grin, locking his blue eyes to Ferrer's grey. "Study and learn, no matter the cost."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

It had been nearly three hours since the descendants of Team RWBY had left Yang's Rest, and Rhonwen was not having a good time. They'd run out of things to talk about about twenty minutes into the trip, and had resorted to Volka using her PIP-Boy to tune in to Wingman's radio station, but even music was starting to lose its appeal to the white-haired woman, her cheeks steadily turning greener and greener. When Asra pulled to a stop, just outside the micro-forest she'd captured Douglas at mere days ago, Rhonwen immediately opened the door and practically fell out of the car, stumbling a few paces away before she fell to her knees and emptied her stomach.

"Dust, Rhonwen!" Summer exclaimed, her eyes widening with worry and shock as she clambered out of the car and made her way around to the Schnee. "Are you alright?" Summer asked, placing her hand on Rhonwen's back.

"Do I look al-?" Rhonwen began, only to cut herself off as she vomited again. "Ugh, fuck," she moaned, blinking rapidly to clear her vision of tears. Not that she wanted to see the mess she'd made; it was more out of habit, really.

"Well, not to make light of this, but I chose a great time to stop," Asra commented, grimacing. She was flexing her hands, trying to clear some of the pain from them; driving for long distances could be hell on the fingers and palms if you weren't wearing gloves.

Rhonwen spat, trying to clear as much of the vomit from her mouth as possible. "Ugh," she moaned again, accepting Summer's help as she rose to her feet. "I've got something to help with this," Rhonwen mumbled, shuffling around to the trunk with Summer's help. The wolf Faunus opened it with one hand, reaching beneath the lip between the trunk's door and the bumper and pushing up on the rubber latch. It popped open, and Rhonwen nearly flopped into it as she tried to pull out the duffel bag she'd put in earlier.

"Here, let me," Summer said as Rhonwen panted, adjusting her so she was sitting down with her back against the car. "What am I looking for?" Summer asked as she unzipped the bag, beginning to rifle through the assorted boxes it contained.

"Yellow metal box," Rhonwen said, her voice raw and feeble. "Pink butterfly on one side. Bottle of pills labeled 'promethazine'."

"Okay, I've found the box," Summer said, pulling it out and opening it, revealing rows of carefully ordered plastic bottles, some of which held pills while others held liquids; clean syringes, each capped with a hard plastic sleeve, sat beside each bottle containing a fluid. "Let's see... ah, found it."

Volka pressed an open canteen into Rhonwen's hand as Summer wrestled with the pill bottle, not quite understanding how a child-proof cap was supposed to open; it wasn't exactly something she'd ever needed to handle before. She figured it out after a moment, pausing to wonder why such a thing had been needed before she passed one of the red and blue capsules it contained to Rhonwen, who popped it in her mouth and washed it down with a long pull of water.

"Fuck," Rhonwen cursed again, letting her eyelids droop shut as she relaxed against the car's rear bumper. "Just gotta keep it down for a few minutes," she mumbled, taking another drink from the canteen. "Should start kicking in about then." Her skin was pale and slick with sweat, her bangs sticking to her forehead as a gentle breeze pushed them against it. Most of the green had vanished from her cheeks, but that didn't mean she wasn't still in danger of vomiting.

"I'm gonna go check the glade, make sure we aren't gonna get attacked by any Grimm or anything," Asra said, nodding to Volka. "Keep them safe, okay?"

"Roger," Volka said, nodding in return. "Stay safe yourself, alright?"

"Yep," Asra said, starting towards the micro-forest. She drew her gun as she stepped passed the first tree, and even from as far as she was Summer could see the minute swiveling of Asra's neck as she looked around herself, scanning for any threats.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Volka asked softly, smirking when Summer's head whipped around to face her, a blush forming on the younger girl's cheeks. Volka let out a sigh; then, her expression suddenly serious, she said, "Listen: I know this isn't exactly the right time to say this, what with you saving my life the other day, but I don't know when I'll get another chance with the way you two have been clinging to each other. Asra is basically my best friend in the whole world, Summer, and I want her to be happy no matter what. You get where I'm going with this?"

Summer's lips quirked slightly as her intuition, born from reading dozens upon dozens of stories, gave her an idea. "Let me guess: if I hurt her, or cheat on her, or something like that, you'll make me wish I was never born?" Summer asked, making Volka blink in surprise.

"Well," Volka said, cocking her head to one side as she raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's true too, but that's not what I wanted to say."

"Huh?" Summer asked, frowning. Rhonwen remained silent, her eyes closed despite her intense focus on their conversation.

"I want her to be happy, Summer," Volka said, letting out a sigh. "You've been doing a good job of that so far, but how far are you willing to go?"

"Huh?" Summer repeated, her frown deepening.

"Are you willing to stay with her when she's sick? Help her fight when she needs it?" Volka asked, only to pause and chuckle. "I guess you already did that one."

"Volka," Summer said, raising her hand before Volka could go on. "I don't really know, yet. It's been... odd, since I left Vault 4." Volka winced, but nodded her head for Summer to continue. "I've basically just been doing whatever feels right to me. It's... I'm not really used to any of this yet. But, once I do something," Summer said, her face hardening with her determination, "I commit to it. I think I understand what you've been trying to get at, so I'm going to make you a promise: I won't leave Asra for some dumb reason, like wanting to experience something new."

Volka was quiet for a moment, but then nodded her head. "Okay," she said, her voice soft but serious. "I think I can accept that, but there is... one more thing, I guess. Something that you probably won't be comfortable with for a while."

"What?" Summer asked.

"Asra... she's a bit of a pervert," Volka blurted out after a moment, blushing. Summer froze, heat roaring into her cheeks and reddening her face and neck. "More of a pervert than Rhonwen."

"Didn't think that was possible," Rhonwen mumbled, looking up at Volka and opening her eyes, a sly smile on her lips.

"Well, it is, and _she_ is," Volka said, her blush growing. "I don't know how long she'll wait, but eventually she's going to start asking you to... you know."

"Do things from my walk of life," Rhonwen chimed in again, winking at Summer.

"Yeah," Volka mumbled, glancing at the micro-forest to make sure Asra wasn't going to surprise them by coming back early. "Storm told me about your... history, a couple days ago. I'll try to make Asra more patient with you, if it becomes a problem for you, but... if you end up not being able to... I'm going to ask you to end things with her."

Summer opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out of it. She closed her mouth, swallowed, and tried again, to no avail.

"I don't want it to come to that, Summer," Volka said, blinking rapidly to keep tears from appearing in her eyes. "She's my best friend, and you're the only family I have. I want nothing more than to see you two be as happy as possible, and if you can manage that together, then by all means, go for it. But, she won't be happy if you can't... be with her like _that_ , and you know it."

"Volka, calm down," Rhonwen said, frowning at the blonde. She stood up, still leaning against the car as she wiped some of the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, and said, "Nothing's ever quite that simple. If Summer is unable to satisfy Asra's cravings when they get to that point in their relationship, I'm sure they'll be able to come up with an acceptable compromise. And, if they aren't, I'll help them," Rhonwen added, a smile returning to her as she winked at Summer again. "I'm sure Asra would appreciate my... _creative_ input, if it came down to it."

Summer set her jaw, took a deep breath, and bowed her head to Rhonwen, her blush having grown to the point that it would have been luminescent if this was a cartoon. "Thank you, Rhonwen," Summer mumbled, turning to face Volka after a moment. "I... I don't know if I'd be... opposed to... with her... I mean..." Summer trailed off, looking away from Volka, her blush so thick that she was starting to feel dizzy. "I think it's just men I'd get freaked out with. I... I don't know for sure, but... I think I could with her."

"Aw, that's so adorable!" Rhonwen practically squealed, stumbling as she wrapped Summer in a tight hug. "If you want, I've got some reading material on my PIP-Boy you could copy. You might find it useful if you're looking for ideas!"

It was at this point Asra walked out of the forest, tucking her blaster pistol back into her jacket. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of the sick doctor hugging her blushing girlfriend, and hurried her steps so that she wouldn't have to shout her question. "What'd I miss?" Asra asked, still needing to raise her voice. Her other eyebrow joined the first as she saw Volka blush and look away, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"Oh, we were just talking about you and Summer, Asra!" Rhonwen gleefully exclaimed, winking at the cat Faunus as she let go of Summer, leaning back against the car for support.

"You were?" Asra asked, glancing at Summer's enormous blush. "Anything in specific, or were you just teasing my girlfriend?"

"Just about how you two are gonna have _sex_ some day!" Rhonwen teased, winking at Asra. The sweat beading on her pale face, along with the fact that she was panting again, just about ruined any sex appeal she could've had right then.

"You're incorrigible," Asra stated in a deadpan, not bothering to fight the blush that fell on her own cheeks.

"Didn't I saw that a few hours ago?" Rhonwen giggled, winking at Asra again.

"Speaking of hours," Volka said, eager to get to a different topic, "you wanna let me drive for the next few? I could tell your hands were starting to shake on the wheel after a while."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good call," Asra said. "I could use a nap before moonrise anyway. We're just going to be going east from here, so you should be good to find your own path, too."

"Great!" Volka exclaimed, giving Asra a thumbs-up.

"Oh, but we should probably use this opportunity to refill our canteens," Asra said, looking back over at the micro-forest. "There's a spring of clean water in a clearing, so we can keep our Dust charged for when we need it."

"Do we have any crackers or anything?" Rhonwen mumbled as Asra and Volka started gathering up their canteens and water bottles, turning back to the trunk and sorting through the various bags in it. "I could use something to eat."

"I brought some veggie wafers with me," Summer said, pulling her backpack partway out of the trunk and unzipping it. "And some granola bars Aina made for us. Oats and candied lemon held together with some sort of syrup. Sound good?"

"That sounds amazing," Rhonwen gushed, taking the plastic-wrapped bar from Summer with a shaky hand. She peeled the layer of plastic from it and bit off a small piece, chewing it slowly and thoroughly before she swallowed it. "Aina's never steered me wrong with food, it seems," Rhonwen commented before she took another bite. The two of them watched Asra and Volka go back into the forest, their arms loaded down with the empty and half-empty bottles they'd been drinking from on the trip over.

Once they'd disappeared past the treeline, Summer said, "Hey, Rhonwen."

"Yeah?" Rhonwen mumbled around her latest bite of granola.

"Thanks for... well, standing up for me back there," Summer said, blushing again. "I... I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but... I didn't really..."

"Expect it from me?" Rhonwen asked, interrupting Summer before she could marshal her thoughts. "Yeah, I've gotten that before. I've got a friend in 22 who's a bit like you, Summer; he's a sweet guy, but he doesn't really want to have sex with anyone. It's probably one of the reasons we became such good friends."

"Really?" Summer asked, raising an eyebrow at the white-haired nympho. "I'd have thought that would keep you from being friends with him."

'Nah," Rhonwen said, smiling and waving her hand dismissively. "We talked about it a few times, and I told him that if he ever wanted to try it he should come to me, but other than that we were just friends. I respected his choice, and he respected mine. Anyway, he got made fun of a few times for being a virgin, just like how I got picked on for being a 'slut'. It was by the same group, too," Rhonwen added, snorting off a laugh. "Idiots couldn't make up their minds. Anyway, we defended each other, stood up for each other, and just ended up becoming friends after a while."

"What did you two do together?" Summer asked, genuinely curious.

"Mostly just hung out. We'd tell each other stories, play games, watch some old videos together; that sort of thing," Rhonwen said. She let out a sad sigh, her smile fading as she said, "Fuck, I miss him. I miss everyone."

Summer couldn't think of what to say to cheer Rhonwen up, so she just wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly. Rhonwen closed her eyes and leaned against the Faunus, letting her cheek rest on top of Summer's head. "You've got friends out here too, Rhonwen," Summer mumbled, not sure if she'd be helping or hurting her by saying it. "You've got Volka, and Storm, and Aina and Tailor and Asra. And me," Summer added, almost as an afterthought.

Rhonwen chuckled, cracking her eyes open slightly and taking in the sight of Summer's hair, which seemed to glow red in the mid-afternoon sunlight. "Thanks, Summer," Rhonwen murmured softly, embracing Summer in return. "You're a damn good friend."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Cinder Rush was in a hurry, walking as quickly as she dared through the busy streets of Beacon City. Her hands were on the handlebars of a motorcycle, which she'd only managed to get working again earlier today. It was a sleek thing, all smooth lines of freshly painted black metal, and it was large enough to seat two, if she could find enough of a cushion to finish the seat. The wheels were of the same make, but they were not identical; Cinder had run out of paint, so only one of the thick rubber tires was white, while the other was in its default state of dark grey.

She'd traded out her normal grease-stained attire for a much more pristine outfit, a pair of tight-fitting red trousers and a tight green tube top, although it was partially covered by a jacket of the same color that barely fell to the middle of her back. Her boots were new, too, although they were new because she'd just bought them for the trip; dyed-red leather, complete with a grey fringe of wool around the boot's mouth and trailing down the sides and back. What's more, she'd added a helmet, of the same sleek metal and coloration as her bike, to her ensemble, but it was draped over her bike's handlebar instead of over her head.

Cinder was at the gates before she realized it, as flighty as she was. Being in a hurry made her nervous, and there were only a couple hours of sunlight left in the day; if she didn't want to be riding in the dark, she'd have to make her move now. She looked up at the colossal wall of steel and iron, feeling dwarfed by its sheer stature. But, that wasn't exactly new for her.

"That time again, Rush?" The question startled Cinder enough to make her jump, prompting a giggle from the woman who'd asked. She wore the uniform of the Winter Fang's military: black shirt, dark blue flak jacket with two long trails, bright green trousers. Her black beret was worn over the right side of her head, covering up the spot of baldness in her otherwise pristine grey hair and out of the way of the single long, twisting horn of ivory that jutted up from the left side of her forehead; Cinder had at first suspected that she was a unicorn Faunus, but after being told repeatedly by Lux that they weren't real animals, she'd decided to go with narwhal instead. "I thought you were done there for a while," she added, leaning out from the window of the one-room building she was standing in; it wasn't a shack, Cinder knew, but she couldn't think of its name off the top of her head.

"Ah, well, you know," Cinder mumbled, blushing as the older woman laughed again, her kind eyes glittering like chunks of topaz. "Last time busted up the Comet pretty bad, so I had to fix her."

"I saw," the woman noted, smiling in a way that brought out the wrinkles on her face. "If I remember correctly, you had a broken arm after that."

"It's been weeks, Asherah," Cinder said, pouting even as she blushed. "I want to learn how to ride, and I'm not going to let a broken arm stop me. Not for long, anyway."

Asherah laughed again, nodding her head. "Alright, Cin, I'll buzz you through," she said, standing up straight again, an action that caused her assault carbine, slung over her shoulder by a nylon strap, to slap lightly against her back. She pressed a button on the terminal next to her, its screen flickering to life and filling the building with green light; she typed a short password on the keyboard, then rolled through the menu commands until she could open the gate. "Alright, gate's opening. You armed?"

Cinder raised and flexed one of her hands, extending her two-inch-long claws. "Always."

"Then go on through," Asherah said, gesturing to the gate as it slowly slid upwards. "Crystal's got outside duty tonight, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting back in. You still remember the drill for if you get attacked by Grimm or raiders?"

"Lead them on a chase towards the gate, where the military can deal with them," Cinder said, her voice utterly monotonous. "This is like the twentieth time we've had this talk, Asherah. I remember it."

"I know, I know, but, well, regulations, you know?" the older woman asked, laughing yet again.

Cinder sighed as she started walking towards the gate again, nodding at Asherah. "Yeah, I know," she mumbled, though the old guard still managed to hear her. And thus Cinder walked out into the Wasteland, her Comet beside her, to once more try to learn how to ride a motorcycle.

Of course, this time she had a PIP-Boy, and not just any PIP-Boy: Cinder had been browsing through the logs the past few days, and had been surprised to find that it had once belonged to one Hinata Xiao Long, one of the most famous motorcyclists Vale had ever seen, and a skilled Huntress as well; the fact that this wasn't the first time Cinder had heard Hinata's name was a pretty clear indicator of just how famous she'd gotten before the war.

"Okay," Cinder mumbled to herself as she walked a good few hundred feet past the gate, glancing down at the device strapped to her arm, the white of the leather around it interrupted by occasional clouds of black and yellow. "You can do this, Cinder. Just like riding a... that doesn't really apply here, does it? I mean, that's usually just meant to mean that you never really forget the thing, not that it's really easy," she babbled to herself, an old habit to help her deal with her fear.

Cinder came to a stop, took a deep breath, and pulled herself atop the bike, her Comet. "Okay, let's do this," she mumbled, sticking her key in the ignition and turning it. A soft humming purr came from the engine, but Cinder already knew that would happen; she wouldn't have brought it all the way out here if she hadn't tested whether or not the engine still worked.

Her mouth dry with nervous anticipation, Cinder lifted her helmet from the handlebars and put it on, tucking her orange hair beneath it. "Until the sun sets black, and the twilight beckons," Cinder murmured, steeling her nerve as she grasped her hands around the handlebars and set her feet into the pedals, "your soul will be a warrior's."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Volka let out a yawn as she drove, her eyes flicking up to the moon, which had only just begun to crest the horizon. Rhonwen had fallen asleep mere minutes after they'd started off again, leaning as far back as she could in her seat without reclining it; Summer had joined her in slumber about an hour later, her head resting on Asra's lap as the cat Faunus trailed her fingers through her girlfriend's hair.

"If you need a break, I'm probably fine to drive again," Asra said, feeling jittery now that she was in the moon's light and had nothing to do.

"No, I'm fine," Volka replied, flexing her aching fingers around the steering wheel. "If I stop, I know that I'll fall asleep before long, and that's the last thing I want right now."

Asra frowned sadly, letting out a deep sigh. "You still having nightmares?"

The nightmares Asra was referring to weren't really dreams, as such; they were Volka's buried memories starting to surface, memories of her past as a servant of the Shade, of ripping into people's flesh and dragging out their organs. And the dissections were some of the friendlier memories from that time, too.

At least they'd been dead when it happened.

Volka swallowed at the bile rising in her throat, fighting to keep her attention on the path in front of her and not on the memories flitting through her head. "Yeah," was all she said, making Asra's frown deepen.

Asra let out another sigh and turned to look out the window, watching the hills roll by as they sped along. It wasn't the route she normally took, but since the car most likely couldn't handle the marshy swamp that she normally ran through, they'd decided to take a different path. It was a lot greener and more open than Asra had expected, and she'd marked it on her PIP-Boy's map as "Potential Alt. Route".

Summer shifted in Asra's lap, her cheek twitching as she reacted to something happening in her dreams; it drew Asra's attention, and she couldn't help but smile again as she looked down at her girlfriend.

"You two doing alright?" Volka asked, trying to start up a conversation less detrimental to her sanity. "Together, I mean."

"Huh?" Asra asked, frowning as she looked back up at Volka. "Oh. Yeah, I guess so," Asra said, letting out a chuckle as she let her gaze go back to Summer. "As good as it can be, anyway. For only one date, me skipping town that night, and her being in a coma when I came back, we're doing just fine."

"Well, when you put it like that," Volka said, chuckling as well. "Seriously though: you two seem a lot closer than I'd've thought you'd be by now."

Asra blushed, but said, "I've been wanting something like this for a long time, V. Someone I can go back to when I'm not out on a job, who I can share a bed with without it being weird. Who can love me the way I can love her."

Volka flinched, glancing over at Asra before turning her eyes back to the path they were driving on. "I'm sorry I couldn't be that for you, Asra," Volka murmured, her voice soft and regretful. "If you were a guy, you'd be just my type, but..."

"I know, V. I wasn't trying to be mean," Asra said, her voice dropping to the same tone as Volka's. "And you tried. That's more than I can say about far too many people." Asra sighed again, shaking her head. "I'm just happy I finally found someone. And I'm pretty sure she's been thinking the same things. Did I tell you how she woke me up when she came out of her coma and saw me sleeping with her?"

"No. How?"

"She kissed me," Asra said, a sort of giddy nervousness swelling in her chest and making her giggle. "She kissed my _forehead_ , V."

Volka glanced at Asra again, raising an eyebrow at the cat Faunus. "And that's better than her kissing your lips because...?"

"Because it tells me she wants more than just sex," Asra explained, making Volka flinch again, not that Asra noticed. "That she's not dating me for my body, but for me." Asra paused, blushing deeply as she checked to make sure Summer was still sleeping, then added, "I think I'm already falling for her, V."

"Dust, Asra," Volka said, clenching her teeth together. "Really? You've known each other for, what, ten days?"

"I know," Asra mumbled, her blush growing deeper. "I know it's way too early to be feeling like this, but... I can't not feel it. She's been so kind and generous to everyone in Yang's Rest. She's made a small fortune from her work, but that's just because she works so hard; she charges so little that people have actually tried to pay her more, and she turned them down every time. And then she spent most of that fortune on fixing up this car, and told me that she'd be fine with me using it on my deliveries so I don't have to be away for as long. She's... she's the closest I've ever seen anyone to becoming a saint."

Volka paled, looking out at the expanse of terrain in front of her without seeing it as she remembered the conversation she'd had with Summer mere days before. "She's out for revenge," Volka said, mostly to herself. "Never heard of a saint who'd do that."

Asra blinked, surprised, then frowned at Volka. "Are you sure you're okay to drive?" Asra asked, reasoning that the only reason Volka would be contrary on that point in particular was exhaustion. "I can take over, if you want."

"You know what? Sure," Volka said, feigning a yawn as she slowed the car to a stop. "I could use a break."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

I think we're done for the day.

Really? I would've thought you'd like to hear a bit more. Maybe about Neo or Odessa, or even Lux.

No. Let's save them for next time.

Oh? And when will next time be?

You're starting to like these sessions, aren't you?

Nyahaha! Of course not. It's just, well, you're the only... well, person isn't the right word, is it?

It used to be.

You're the only person who I get to talk to, these days.

And that's quite possibly the best thing you could have said. It means my wards are still working.

Yeah. You really outdid yourself with them, didn't you? And I mean that literally.

They'll last for centuries, if they have to. But they won't have to.


	10. Chapter 9

Nyahaha! So, you came back yet again, I see.

Just get on with it, Shade. I'm not anywhere near a cheery mood today.

Oh? But maybe I don't want to talk about this today. Hmm, maybe I'd rather wallow in darkness than be subjected to you right now.

Excuse me?

You heard me. Piss off. Unless, of course, you want to tell me about the Followers.

The Followers.

Yes. The Followers of the Apocalypse. You know, those chumps you've been breeding up as cannon fodder? The survivors of the Pit?

Don't you know enough about them?

Not by a long shot, darling. And I'd be _ever_ _so grateful_ if you could just tell me about them.

... Fine. Where should I start?

Purpose would be a good call, although the directions you gave them might be better. I mean, really, "the twilight beckons"? What kind of horse shit is that?

An end to this balance between us. It was one of the perceived eventualities.

Nyahaha! Just one of them, huh? What were the others?

Unnecessary. I already purged them from my memory.

Eh?

I identified the causal links that were degrading my mind and reshaped them. It seems impossible to get rid of them entirely, but I was able to shift them so I could choose which memories to sacrifice first.

Yikes. Sounds like you've been having a hard time.

Much as I don't remember the other prophecies, I do remember that I had given the Followers only fragments of them, told them small things to guide them. I think it was to enable them to reduce the effects of our ending on the Humans and Faunus, though I don't know for sure if that was why. Not anymore.

Nyahaha! Looks like I did at least one good thing in my time. I got rid of you.

How is that good?

You must not remember. How about we continue the story?

Please do. I'm curious to see how exactly I became the villain of your tale.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Breakfast was a simple affair for a courier on the road, and a caravan guard wasn't used to much better. So, Volka was surprised when Summer and Rhonwen reacted with shock to what she and Asra considered a decent breakfast.

"You're kidding, right?" Rhonwen asked, looking at the granola bar and handful of wafers that she'd been given. "This is it?"

"What do you mean, 'this is it'?" Volka asked around a mouthful of granola, raising an eyebrow at the Schnee.

"I think we were hoping for something a bit more... substantial," Summer said, wincing at the way she'd phrased it. "I mean, this probably isn't even a fifth of the recommended calorie intake, is it?"

"Not by a long shot," Rhonwen said, shaking her head. "Unless the lemon bits in the granola have an absurd amount of sugar, that is."

"You know, a lot of people out here would be happy to have this much for an entire day," Volka said. "You're lucky that we're so well off in Yang's Rest, but most people struggle really hard to get enough food on their plates."

"Yeah, that doesn't really hold much water for people who've had an overabundance for their whole lives," Rhonwen said in a deadpan, looking around at the barren plain that they were sitting in. She frowned sadly, then added, "Of course, now that we're not in town... it's easier to see how bad things could get."

Summer glanced up at the sky, worry in her eyes as she noted the position of the moon. "I'm getting worried," Summer said, standing up and looking around them. "The moon's going to set in a few minutes, and Asra's not back yet."

"Relax, Summer," Volka said, smiling at the young woman. "She won't have gone more than ten miles away."

"Then why can't I see her?" Summer asked, frustrated.

"Well, since we're on roughly level ground, the horizon's not gonna be more than three miles away," Volka said, more than a little happy that she was finally able to show that she knew a few things that the two former Vault dwellers didn't. "She's probably on her way back right now."

As if on cue, their PIP-Boys' let out a synchronized beep, causing all three of them to glance down and open their messaging apps.

 _Caught a few rabbits. On my way back._

"See, I told you," Volka said, grinning at the relieved mechanic. "And now you've got nothing to complain about. Rabbits make for good eating. Bit greasy, but they hit the spot."

"Guess we should start building a fire," Summer said, looking around at the grassy plain they were in. "Oh, wait. That's right," she continued, more than a bit of sarcasm in her voice. "We'd need wood for that, and there isn't any nearby."

"Asra's got some extra Dust," Volka said around a mouthful of granola, shrugging one shoulder. "And I've got a bit, too. Not much, but enough to cook a couple rabbits."

"How?" Summer asked, sitting back down. "Unless you packed more than I thought, we don't have a stove."

Volka raised an eyebrow, then let out a single laugh. "How do you not... oh. Right," Volka cut herself off with a wince, having remembered why Summer wouldn't know how to use Dust. "Well, Asra's better at talking about this sort of thing than me, so I'll just run down the basics," Volka continued, pulling a small red crystal, barely the size of her thumb, out from the breast pocket of her blouse. "Basically, you push some of your Aura into the Dust, like so," Volka said, giving the barest flex of her hand around the Dust crystal, "then you draw that Aura back into yourself. After that, you shape it, give it any properties that you want to, and fling it out."

Volka demonstrated by lifting one thumb, letting a candle-sized flicker of yellow flame grow from it as she drew on the fire Dust. "See?" Volka asked as Summer stared at it, a quizzical expression on her face. "Simple, huh?"

"That actually seems really complicated," Summer said, pulling a small metal canister from her own pocket. She lifted the lid and flicked her thumb across the ignition box within, causing a red flame, about the same size as Volka's yellow, to emerge from a thin nozzle that the lid had been covering. "This is a lot simpler."

"Where'd you get a lighter?" Volka asked, frowning as she put out her own flame and tucked the Dust back into her pocket.

"Shula gave it to me," Summer said, flipping the lid closed and snuffing out the flame. "I fixed up something for her... I think it was a camera. She wanted to pay me more, but I said no, and she gave me this as a gift."

"Well, I think I see Asra," Rhonwen said, snapping Summer and Volka out of what could have become a nasty argument. "One of you two want to start a fire?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Cinder was not happy. Her motorcycle's Dust reserves had burned dry after only half an hour of practice, and the amount it would take to fill the reservoir back up would take most of a month's pay to buy. So, she was faced with a choice.

"Military life's not that bad, Cin," Asherah said, sitting on a chair in Cinder's workshop as the young cat Faunus worked on bending a military jeep's axle back into place. "Sure, you've got a bunch of extra work to do, but you're probably working harder in here than you would in a unit. Especially since you already get a bunch of our work anyway."

Cinder slid out from beneath the car, the simple plank of wood with three wheels screwed into it carrying her out easily. "Excuse me?" she said, glaring up at the elderly woman through her face-covering gas mask. "Is that why you've been bringing me so much broken stuff?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Asherah said, grinning at the young woman. "I'm getting on in years, you know, but my superiors don't respect the frailty that comes with old age."

Cinder sighed, then rolled back beneath the car. "Explains why you had me modify your rifle, I guess."

"Mm-hmm," Asherah grunted, nodding her head, despite Cinder being unable to see her. "My old bones are starting to get brittle. At least, that's what Doctor North said. He's a sweet boy, but a bit young to be doctoring."

"He's thirty-three," Cinder said in a deadpan.

"Ah, to be young!"

There was a brief moment of silence between them before Cinder asked, "Exactly how old are you?"

Asherah scoffed, tilting her head dramatically. "How rude!"

Cinder laughed. "Looks like I wouldn't get along to well in the military's structure," Cinder said, rolling out from beneath the car again, a fresh coating of ash on the old scarf she'd wrapped around her hair. "I'd pull this sort of thing too much," she continued, setting down the clamp studded with red and brown crystals of Earth and Fire Dust and grabbing a similar tool, this one covered in blue powder. She rolled back beneath the car without much preamble, and a sizzling hiss came from it a moment later, along with a thin trickle of steam.

Asherah sighed, shaking her head. "Any chance I can get you to reconsider?" the narwhal Faunus asked. "I can all but guarantee you a good spot in my squad. Utilities personnel, mostly fixing things up, some guard duty here and there. But you get the same benefits as everyone else, including hourly wages and medical insurance."

"And you get to be stuck here until the day you die," Cinder said irritably.

"The term of service is only five years, Cin!"

"And I've seen the things the higher-ups do to 'convince' their subordinates to stick around," Cinder spat. "No thanks. I'll keep my freedom, if it's all the same to you."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"What's going on?" Neo yelled as she stepped out of her tent. Her hand was firmly planted on the grip of the sword at her hip, and her cheek twitched when she saw that no one was around to answer her question. "Of all the..." Neo began, but then trailed off, muttering obscenities under her breath.

And then there was another explosion.

The bomb went off a mere forty feet from her, and held enough force to throw her back and singe her hair, even through her Aura. Sheer reflex let her use the momentum to roll, and she came to her feet gracefully, her braid of multi-colored hair bobbing artfully.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Neo shouted angrily, shaking her head. Her ear was ringing, and she was _not_ happy about it. She spotted a man in uniform running towards the medical tent, another soldier draped over his shoulder and bleeding from a number of wounds. "Sergeant Lasky, report!"

Sergeant Phoenix Lasky was not a tall man, but he was built larger than anyone else Neo had ever seen. He stood a full inch shorter than her, but was nearly three times as wide, despite not having an ounce of excess body fat. His blonde hair, what little of it draped down beneath his military-issue helmet, looked like polished gold in the morning light, and his red eyes shone like rubies.

"Sir!" Lasky said, nodding his head at Neo in lieu of a salute. "There's an aircraft carrier just offshore, and its deployed three Hawk-class bombers into our airspace! Lieutenant Blackstone has sent squads Vagrant and Merchant from Epsilon in retaliation!"

"How many casualties?" Neo asked, narrowing her eyes as another aircraft passed by overhead. "Sergeant, hit the ground!"

Neo drew her sword and slashed in a single motion, the threads wrapped around her sword's guard radiating soft grey light. A torrent of wind cascaded from the motion of her blade and toppled the missiles bearing down at the encampment off course, sending them crashing down into the canyon below.

"Thank you, sir!" Lasky barked, swallowing down his fear as he rose back to his feet. After checking to make sure his injured companion was alright, he said, "Only three wounded so far, and no fatalities, sir!"

"Roger. Get her to the medical tent, Sergeant," Neo said, nodding her head at him as she took off at a run towards the coast.

"Sir!" Lasky barked one last time before he shambled over to the medical tent.

Neo's eyes shifted colors as she tracked one of the Hawks, turning a muted shade of pink as she called on her memories of the aircraft. Before the Second Great War, they'd been called Hornets, mostly for their ability to distract the stronger types of Grimm so the Huntsmen had an easier time fighting. They had a front-heavy design, with a pair of Dust-enhanced rotary blades for lift and thrust jutting out from the ends of their short, fat wings. The landing-assist pads were wide enough to carry a man each, making them extremely useful for Huntsmen operating in smaller units than usual. Since the Hornets her enemies fielded typically had a complement of missile launchers in addition to the more common heavy machine guns, Neo had decided that the old name just didn't do them justice anymore, and called them Hawks.

A grin stretched Neo's lips as she came across one of her favorite memories related to the Hornets. She'd been able to pilot one of them, before the Second Great War, with the explicit directive to cause as much havoc and chaos as she could. Nearly a hundred men, women, and children had been killed by what most residents of Vale had considered a terrorist attack. Neo nearly shuddered with pleasure at the memory of one of her targets, a man whose legs had been carved off by a burst of machine gun fire; he'd crawled towards his children, trying to protect them with his last act, only to watch with horror as Neo turned her guns on them, as well.

'But now I'm one of the _good guys,_ ' Neo groused internally, her grin turning into a glare as she saw the Hawk turning to make another pass. 'Fuck, I hate the Seraph.'

When the Hawk started to turn, Neo jumped on top of a loose rock formation. Another leap brought her to the Hawk just as it finished its turn, starting to move towards the encampment once more. The brown-uniformed man she'd landed next to was too startled to raise his rifle; Neo wound up planting her fist into his face, knocking him off of the Hawk and making him fall the fifty-plus feet to the ground below.

Neo smirked as she planted her sword through the glass dome separating her from the Hawk's pilot, her blade penetrating the glass without shattering it. A minor application of fire Dust was all that it took to burn the oxygen out of the cockpit, and the woman inside widened her eyes and started clutching at her throat as the air she breathed was now both super-heated and bereft of what she actually wanted to breathe.

Neo couldn't help but giggle as she pulled her sword free from the glass, creating a small flow of oxygen into the cockpit. The pilot actually surprised Neo, though; instead of placing her face closer to the air hole Neo had so generously given her, she pulled a small pistol from the side of seat and shot at the short woman, blowing out the glass and hitting Neo in the shoulder.

The multi-colored woman had already moved, however, and the image she'd left behind shattered like glass. The real Neo had maneuvered her way over the bulk of the Hawk and slammed her feet into the man clinging to the side of the airship, sending him falling into the camp below. Neo flipped up into the cockpit while holding tight to the metal beneath her, the wind roaring about her ears as she rammed her knees into the pilot's face; her followup was driving her sword straight through the pilot's eye, shattering the woman's Aura in a single rush and killing her near-instantly.

Neo manned the controls with one hand as she withdrew her sword from the woman's eye and sheathed it, then tossed the corpse out over the side with an almost flippant motion. She flipped up into the air again, then slid down into the seat and grasped the flight sticks more firmly.

Neo's grin was almost manic as she turned the airship around, pointing it towards one of the others that had invaded her camp's airspace. With a press of a button, half a dozen missiles blasted out from reservoirs next to the pair of machine guns and ignited, arcing towards the other Hawk. They didn't all collide at once, and Neo's grin at the bloody carnage that followed stretched her cheeks so much that for a moment she feared they might tear.

She whirled her Hawk around, eager to see more carnage, only to find that the final Hawk had been grounded. Neo couldn't help but scowl at that, and started looking around for Harold as she started descending. When she landed, she ran towards him immediately, hoping to give him an earful for interrupting her sleep with something that he could clearly handle on his own.

When she found him, however, he was being tossed around by a man in a brown leather duster, much like his own black one. Harold stumbled back to his feet, and met the wild swing of his opponent's baton with his staff before turning on his heel and planting his elbow into the man's nose. When the man stumbled back, Neo charged in, swinging her sword as she drew on just a bit of fire Dust.

The blood on her blade flash-boiled, and he took a blast of red steam to the eyes. He grit his teeth and jumped away, clearing more than a dozen feet with barely any effort. When he raised his eyes, Neo took the time to get a good look at him.

The man wasn't very tall. Granted, he was taller than Neo, but that wasn't saying much. His short hair was brown, as were his eyes, and he wore simple clothing beneath his duster, adorned with a single silver pin shaped like a bear. His jaw and nose were misshapen, as if they'd broken and healed wrong, and he wielded a baton that was reminiscent of those used by the Old World's civilian police forces.

"You got held up by a Ranger," Neo said, her cheek twitching as she glowered at Harold, who grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought you were better than that, Harold."

"I said I was as good as a Ranger," Harold shot back, winking at her. "I didn't say in what."

Neo sighed, frustrated, and planted her fist into Harold's side. The man slid a few feet away, his Aura having turned the bulk of the strike into momentum. "Just give me ranged support, Harold. I'll finish him for you."

The corner of the Ranger's lip twitched, and his eyebrow quirked up.

"Ah, look, he's mute! Just like you!" Harold exclaimed, pointing at the Ranger with his staff. Three of the crystals lining it lit it with the motion, and a blast of white light shot from the tip like a frozen comet. The Ranger rolled to one side, and the light streaked past him, slamming into the ground nearly twenty feet away and forming a patch of ice and snow ten feet wide and a foot high.

Neo was on him almost instantly, and the Ranger lifted his baton to shrug her swinging sword to one side, his off-hand already moving to slug her in the gut. But then Neo's sword sliced clean through his baton.

And his arm.

The PIP-Boy on the Ranger's arm started blaring a warning that his Aura had broken, even as it fell to the ground, and Neo quickly reversed her grip and slashed upwards, bisecting the man from hip to shoulder.

Neo glared down at the fallen Ranger, and then turned back to Harold. She sheathed her sword as she crossed the dozen feet between them, then stood mere inches from him as she glared up at the amused man's face.

"Have Merchant and Vagrant completed their objectives?" Neo asked, still glaring at Harold. Her breaths were coming in short pants, despite her lack of fatigue, and her pupils had dilated dramatically. Harold noted that she was very clearly not wearing a bra, either.

Harold shook his head. "Not-" he began, only to be cut off when his PIP-Boy beeped at him. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the message displayed there. "Ah. They've finished. The crew of the carrier is dead, and the Legion has a new naval platform."

"Good," Neo said, grabbing his arm roughly and dragging him with her as she walked. "Clear your schedule, Harold. We're going to be spending the rest of the day in my tent."

Harold sighed, resigned to his fate, and tried to access his PIP-Boy's messaging app while Neo pulled him along. "You know, when I let you hire me, I thought there'd be less nookie involved," Harold said grumpily. "And I never thought that someone who looked like you would get so turned on by blood."

"Shut up, Harold."

Harold sighed again.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I told Hestia that this was a bad plan," a man said, his blue eye looking through the scope of a rifle at Neo as she handily slaughtered the NCR Ranger; his other eye had been long since lost, and was covered with a black patch. He was standing a good few hundred meters away, and was dressed in fatigues designed to blend in with the grey and red stone of the plateau. "Sending in that half-baked fool Jensen was a bad call."

"Shut it, Snake," the woman next to him said in an oddly mechanical voice, her brown ponytail being splayed out by the wind. Her eyes, a darker brown than her hair, were locked onto Neo as well, despite her not having a scope or binoculars to look through. Her attire mirrored her companion's almost exactly, although her flak jacket's collar partially covered her throat. "Jensen was a political promotion, remember? This'll just make his backer look bad."

Snake sighed, then shook his head. "I hate politics. He was a good soldier, maybe would've made a decent Ranger in a few more years."

"Take the shot already."

"Bad idea. Recognize the man next to her? Harold Blackstone, the Wasteland Wizard. He's got enough Dust in his staff to power the capital for a decade, and has reflexes like the son of a cat Faunus and a Super Mutant."

The woman shuddered, shaking her head. "Poor kid. Still feel bad about what happened to his mother."

"Not much we could do on that end, Scorpion. V was her friend before all that shit went down."

"She get her memories back yet?"

"Last update was months ago, but it was a no. V's got people with her if she ever gets them back. Folk like Mule, and Ocelot."

"Thank the Gods," Scorpion said, shuddering again. "Last thing this world needs is the Boss come back."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Come on, Summer," Asra said, tapping her foot against the ground impatiently as she watched Summer slowly rise to her feet. Rhonwen and Volka watched from their seats on the trunk of Summer's car as the young wolf Faunus managed to stand, panting as she scowled at her girlfriend. "You're the one who wanted me instead of Rhonwen."

They had stopped after another few hours of travel so they could stretch and Volka could let her fingers rest, and Rhonwen decided to do practice her martial arts. Summer got curious, and ended up asking to learn. One thing led to another, and Asra had spent the last few minutes trying to teach Summer some basic close-quarters combat.

"I didn't think... that your idea... of training," Summer panted, "would be beating the hell out of me!"

"Best way to learn how to fight is to learn how not to fight," Asra said with a smirk, bending over slightly to tease her girlfriend with her cleavage; she'd taken off her coat hours ago to use as a blanket while she slept, and her prodigious bosom was on full display beneath her camisole. "And I'm not beating the hell out of you. If I was, I'd be moving my legs."

Summer wasn't even injured, either, thanks to her Aura. She'd managed to surprise Asra with its intensity; the cat Faunus had been certain it would've her PIP-Boy would've shouted a warning by now.

"It still hurts, you know," Summer shot back, glaring now.

Asra's thoughts went into overdrive as she looked at Summer's eyes. She'd been trying to goad the younger woman into attacking again, to teach her a lesson about how a quick temper could lead to getting killed in the Wasteland, but she'd underestimated her; evidently, she'd learned something about managing anger somewhere down the line. So, Asra went to her usual fallback plan: bribery.

"Tell you what," Asra said, smirking at Summer again. "If you can land a single hit on me during one of these practices, I'll give you a full massage when we get back to Yang's Rest."

Could it be called bribery if Asra wanted it more than Summer?

Summer's glare turned into a scowl, but she was interested; Asra could tell by the look in her silver eyes. "Don't you want that more than me?" Summer asked. "What's stopping you from throwing the bet?"

"Well, we could say that you'd have to give me a massage if you lose," Asra said, still smirking. "But then I'd have some major incentive to win, and that might be a bit unfair to you."

Summer growled, the sound coming from deep in her chest, and narrowed her eyes at Asra. "Challenge accepted."

Asra's smirk widened into a grin as Summer charged at her, fist held high.

Rhonwen snorted off a laugh as Asra easily avoided the clumsy punch and followed it with a throw that put Summer a dozen feet away. "This wasn't how I was taught martial arts," Rhonwen commented, making Volka chuckle. "Most of it was just practicing forms until my mother thought I was good enough to start sparring."

"We don't exactly have a ton of time," Volka said, her smile turning into a grimace. "Summer wants to get her revenge, after all."

"Does she, though?" Rhonwen asked. When Volka turned to her and raised an eyebrow, she added, "Don't get me wrong: she talks about it a lot. But... she really doesn't act like she's all that focused on it. She says it when she wants to stop talking, or when she thinks it'll make me pity her enough to let her have her way. And then she does stuff like sign up to be the mechanic of Yang's Rest, or starts dating Asra."

Volka smiled again, shaking her head. "Maybe you're right," Volka mumbled, watching as Summer tried to tackle Asra, only for the older woman to take a single step to the side and avoid Summer's shoulder.

"Speaking of the two of them," Rhonwen began, a smirk crawling across her lips, "they're taking things pretty quick, aren't they?"

Volka raised an eyebrow again, glancing at the Schnee. "How so?"

"Only one date, and they're making out every chance they get," Rhonwen commented, raising one of her eyebrows in return. "You'd think they'd want to move slower, what with their... oddities. Asra's probably not used to this sort of thing, so she should want to take things somewhat slow, and, quite frankly, I'm surprised Summer wants to do anything physical at all."

"That's just how things work out here," Volka said with a shrug. "We move fast when we find someone we like because we don't know if they'll be there tomorrow. Or if we will."

"But Summer came from a Vault," Rhonwen pointed out. "She shouldn't have that sense of urgency."

Volka shrugged again. "Maybe she was gonna end up like you if she wasn't... you know."

"Nearly raped on three separate occasions, two of them happening during the years where she was most impressionable?" Rhonwen asked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe. Actually, that seems rather plausible, though I'll admit to not knowing much about mental health. Or maybe... maybe..." Rhonwen trailed off, shaking her head.

"Maybe what?" Volka asked, frowning at the white-haired doctor.

"Sorry, lost my train of thought," Rhonwen said, forcing a bit of cheer into her voice. 'Maybe she sees Asra as a replacement for her cousin,' Rhonwen thought, turning back to the fight with a frown.

Moments passed by in silence, the two of them watching the fight, until Volka suddenly broke it with, "Hey, you're a doctor, right?"

"According to Haruki, yeah," Rhonwen said, shrugging. "I'd still have a few years of instruction left before I became one in my Vault, though."

"Well, uh, do you know how to stop someone with amnesia from... getting their memories back?"

Rhonwen frowned, turning to face the blonde. When she saw the look of fear and self-disgust on Volka's face, her frown turned sad. "I don't think I can help you, Volka," Rhonwen said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It really depends on how your amnesia came about. Most of the time, amnesia as a result of head trauma either corrects itself or never comes undone, while amnesia from mental or emotional trauma... it's a lot more complicated, but usually the memories will come back when the amnesiac has grown emotionally, to the point that they can accept them. In your case, though... there might be nothing we can do."

Volka sighed, turning her gaze to the ground. Tears began forming in her eyes, but she forced them away with her Aura; they came right back when she realized she didn't remember how or when she'd learned to do that. "Oh," she said after a moment.

"It'll be okay, Volka," Rhonwen said, taking her hand off the older woman's shoulder and pulling her into a hug. "I don't know what you're going through right now, but you should keep this in mind: you are more than the person you were."

Volka raised her eyes to Rhonwen's, her practically violet blue meeting the Schnee's more oceanic blue. "Thanks, Rhonwen," Volka mumbled after a moment, lowering her head with a blush.

Rhonwen smiled down at Volka. "Come on, raise your head," Rhonwen said, her smile turning into a smirk. "With my reputation, it'd only take a glance for the lovebirds to get the wrong idea."

Volka blushed harder, and pushed away from Rhonwen. "Right," she said, offering Rhonwen a brief grin before she turned back to the sparring match.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You know, I never really thought I'd get bored of traveling," Rhonwen said in a monotonous tone. The four of them were once again on the move, with Asra driving since she was awake. "Mostly because I never thought I'd be traveling. This is truly astonishing, yet somehow completely uninteresting."

Summer fought to keep a smile from forming on her face. She had put in her earbuds and tuned her PIP-Boy to Wingman's radio station, hoping to get lulled to sleep by some music. It hadn't happened, but she still found it relaxing to act like she was sleeping while listening to something, even though the DJ seemed to be avoiding playing anything by Weiss Schnee.

 _So you can throw me to the wolves!_

 _Tomorrow I will come back, leader of the whole pack._

 _Beat me black and blue!_

 _Every wound will shape me, every scar will build my throne._

"And that was Throne by the Achieve-Men," Wingman said once the song ended. "Now, we have a special segment coming up, starring a very good friend of mine. She doesn't want me to go into too many details, of course, but she did want me to say something to a very special someone." Wingman coughed, and Summer heard the shuffling of papers, which was something she hadn't heard since she'd left Vault 4.

"To the Dreaming Rose," Wingman began, making Summer stop breathing for a moment. She forced herself to keep her breaths slow and gentle, knowing that she wouldn't get to listen to the rest of it if her friends knew she was awake. "I am sorry for everything I have done to you, and to your friends. I was wrong. I made a mistake, and I don't know how to make it all up to you. I hope that this will be a good start."

Wingman laughed, a nervous chuckle. "I hope that this Dreaming Rose likes this too, to be honest. It's not often I get to interview someone who was alive before the Second Great War. Welcome to Remnants of History, folks! Today's show is all about Huntsmen!"

There was an audible click, and then Summer heard a voice that she hadn't heard in days. "I've met a fair few Huntsmen and Huntresses, in my day," the recording of Penny Rose said. "Most of them were decent people, though there were a few bad apples here and there. It was a profession with a respect for strength and intelligence, but that doesn't always attract the sort of people you'd like to spend time with. There were always people who stood out above the others, though, like Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Coco Adel. They were some of the kindest, most charitable people I've ever known."

"Now, a lot of people these days know at least a bit about Ruby and Jaune," Wingman said, "but who was Coco Adel? I haven't heard of her."

Penny let out a tinny giggle, then replied, "I'd be surprised if you did. She didn't wind up making something that would last after the end of the world, after all; she was more concerned with the people still living before it happened. She set up multiple charities to help the less fortunate, providing food, shelter, and clothes to millions of people, and she helped raise so much money for the war effort that Atlas and Vale soldiers never went hungry in the field. She and I weren't particularly close, since she was always so busy, but we got along well enough when we did speak."

"That seems almost unreal, to be honest," Wingman said. "Most people have a hard time getting their hands on enough to eat these days. I don't know if I can really wrap my mind around one person giving food to millions of people, especially if they aren't getting anything in return."

"That's what made her a Huntress," Penny said proudly. "When they spoke, people listened. When they moved, people watched. And when they tried their best to help others, everyone who could followed in their footsteps."

Summer couldn't help but smile at the words. She wasn't paying attention to anything but the radio anymore, letting Penny's retelling of history into her mind uninhibited. After all, the robot was trying to apologize: the least Summer could do was listen.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"This doesn't need to be difficult, you know," Ferrer said, his white eyes flicking to grey for a brief moment as he looked down at Douglas Schnee. The man was still bound by Adamantine shackles, kept behind steel bars, and only given enough food and water to just barely keep alive. "You are a collector of knowledge, after all, Shade. Just tell me why you're here."

Douglas cackled gleefully, his brown eyes flashing blue. "Don't you already know?" Douglas asked, clicking his tongue disparagingly. "My, my, Seraph. You must be going weak in old age if you can't even track your counterpart."

Ferrer glared at the older man, his cheek twitching. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Shade, but I'm not the Seraph's favored servant," Ferrer spat angrily. "I'm just the one she had on hand."

"Oh my," Douglas cooed, just barely keeping his laughter in check. "Big bad mayor, all fired up that mommy doesn't like him best."

Ferrer narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to take slow, deep breaths. "I don't have enough patience for this right now, Shade," Ferrer said, his voice monotonous, though still threatening. "Tell me, or I'm going to kill your host."

Douglas cackled again, his grin so wide that Ferrer hoped it might split his cheeks open. "No, you aren't," Douglas said simply, making Ferrer freeze.

"Why wouldn't I?" Ferrer asked, his hand reaching around his back to the Adamantine dagger he wore.

"Well, for one thing, you won't kill a source of information as good as this one," Douglas said, his eyes flashing blue again. "For the other, well, why don't you let _him_ tell you?" Douglas asked, directing a pointed look behind Ferrer.

Ferrer spun instantly, his steel bracer flowing into a shield as he brought it up just in time to block the blade of an arming sword. His other bracer changed its form as well, growing a long metal spike that Ferrer jabbed at his opponents neck, driving back the absurdly tall man.

"Lux Eterna," Ferrer spat, glaring at the rabbit Faunus. "You're with them?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Ferrer Rust," Lux replied, cracking his neck to one side as he raised his blade again. "You were there when we took down the Boss. Part of the operation, in fact. Why turn your hand against us, when we took her down together?"

"Asra is my friend," Ferrer growled, reshaping his bracers into a pair of long, thin shields. "Maybe my best friend. I know she wouldn't have wanted to be that monster, so I did my damnedest to make her stop. If I'd known you were His, I would've killed you right then and there."

"Pity," Lux said, shaking his head. "I should've known better than to try reasoning with one of you Lightspawn."

"Why were you there, Lux?" Ferrer asked, making Lux pause. "Why did the Shade want to take down the Boss?"

Douglas cackled before the Faunus could answer, but Ferrer didn't turn to look at him. "My, my, Ferrer," Douglas was happy to chime in. "You've got a brain in your head, don't you? If not, I'd be happy to take a look at what you've got instead."

Ferrer took a moment to think what answer would disgust him the most before he made his guess. "You just wanted to see if you could," Ferrer growled, unable to resist looking back at Douglas. The ex-Vault doctor winked at him, and the mayor turned back around just in time to see a fist the size of a mailbox slam into his head.

Ferrer was sent flying backwards, snapping the metal bars of Douglas's cell and crashing clear through the brick wall behind him. Even through his Aura, that impact stunned him for a good few seconds, time that Lux was more than willing to take advantage of.

The Faunus cleared the fifteen feet between him and Douglas with two quick strides, slashing at the Adamantine chains with his sword. The fine steel was more than sharp enough to carve through the softer metal, especially with Lux's monstrous strength driving it, and Douglas was soon free.

"Took you long enough," the doctor griped as he rose to his feet, rubbing at his chafed and bleeding wrists. Other than some dust and grime on the edges of his coat, he was in remarkably good shape.

"Stealth isn't my strong suit," Lux said, clenching his fist tightly enough to make his knuckles crack. "Let's move. I'd rather not kill these people."

"Still waging your pet war against the NCR?" Douglas asked tauntingly, laughing when Lux grunted. "You see these people as rebels, too?"

"Yep," Lux said simply. "They'll work against them, even after this."

And then a thrown knife hilted itself in Lux's shoulder, breaking his Aura and making him grunt in pain. He glared through the hole in the wall to see Ferrer standing there, another Adamantine dagger grasped in his hand. "Not likely," Ferrer said, throwing the second blade at Douglas, who dissolved into mist and let it pass cleanly through him.

Douglas reformed and started clicking his tongue. "Did you already forget my Semblance, little mayor?" the doctor taunted, grinning broadly.

"Nope," Ferrer said, smirking at him. "Just needed your attention on me."

Lux's eyes widened, and he turned to face the door, raising his sword and tugging the dagger from his shoulder in the same motion.

"Fool!" Douglas hissed at Lux, only for a bullet to slam into the back of the courier's leg before he could react. Lux grunted and fell to one knee, then quickly shoved himself to one side a mere second before another bullet passed through the space his head had been in and bounced off the brick wall.

The bullet changed at the moment impact, morphing in shape until it vaguely resembled a small cat. The metal cat mimed a roar as it launched itself at the startled Faunus, its miniature claws poised to rend him to pieces, only for Douglas to punt it in mid-flight and break it into a dozen pieces.

"Take the draught!" Douglas growled at Lux, raising his hand as he turned to face Haruki. The town doctor's revolver was smoking lightly at the tip, and he was taking aim at the Faunus's head, but the ex-Vault doctor managed to draw on a Dust crystal and erect a crude wall of stone between them.

Lux drew a small metal vial out of one of his pockets, tore the cap off with his tongue, and downed its contents. He blinked in surprise as he felt his Aura return, as well as the taste of freshly barbecued meat. "What was that?" Lux rumbled, standing back up as his flexing muscles forced the bullet out of his thigh.

"Later," Douglas said, grabbing Lux by the shoulder and dragging the larger man with him as he walked out the front door. "For now, let's leave a little gift."

Douglas smirked as he pointed a hand at the ceiling, thick blue tendrils of his Aura rising up from his arm and chewing through the roof of the prison. Ferrer managed to smash through the earthen wall just in time to see the ex-Vault doctor turn his hand to the walls, ripping through them just as easily as the wooden ceiling. The mayor's eyes widened as the building started collapsing, and Douglas and Lux made their getaway.

The two started running the moment their feet touched the roughly paved streets of Yang's Rest, using their Semblances to carry them past most of the militiamen they encountered; Douglas would fly over them to distract them while Lux would jump into the crowd and then jump out again, knocking most of them down while moving past them. It wasn't until they hit the very edge of town that they were actually forced to stop by a net of Dust-conjured electricity, catching Douglas in his mist-form and shocking him back into his normal state of being.

Douglas hissed in pain as he convulsed, tumbling to the ground as his PIP-Boy barked out a warning that his Aura was nearly broken. "Damn brats," Douglas mumbled the moment he stopped trembling, forcing himself back onto his feet with some help from Lux. "I'd bet three days of rations that was Storm."

"You know, I'm not really happy you know my name," the militiaman said, stepping out from behind the support beam of a metal watchtower. He held his assault carbine in one hand, his other reaching to one of the metal spheres hanging from his tactical vest. "Seems like something I'll want to correct."

Storm Bright lifted the sloppily made grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it in a pair of swift, efficient movements. White sparks trailed from the top as the Fire Dust within ignited, and it went off an instant before it touched the ground, throwing up a haze of scarlet smoke and golden flames. It cleared quickly, revealing a crumbling wall of stone between Storm and his targets.

"Ah, you still had some Dust?" Storm whined, frowning as he tried to look through the broken sections of the wall. "Too bad; I was hoping that'd wind up killing you."

Douglas's cackle rang loud and clear through the streets as the wall finished crumbling, a bright, disturbing "Nyahaha!" that seemed to pool between Storm's ears and stay there. "You thought _that_ would kill me?" Douglas asked, still laughing. "Really? You don't know me very well, do you?"

Storm snorted, switching to a two-handed grip on his rifle. "I'd rather not, if it means anything to you," Storm said in a deadpan, his eyes trailing yellow sparks. "Hmm, two-twenty-nine," the militiaman mumbled to himself before turning his gaze on Lux. "And four-eighteen, climbing. Alfred!" Storm yelled, raising his gun again. "Rabbit!"

A bullet from a large-caliber rifle blasted into Lux's hip, knocking him nearly a dozen feet from where he stood and making him slam into a brick wall shoulder-first with a crunch. He grunted, and started pulling himself out of the wall, only for another shot from the same gun to bury him further into the bricks, bouncing off his Aura before it could tear through the knife wound in his back. The Faunus turned his head to glare at the tower the shots had come from, only to see an extremely feminine looking man wielding a heavy black rifle longer than Lux was tall.

Storm's rifle thundered again, clattering away in two-shot bursts as he fired at Douglas. The ex-Vault doctor rolled to one side and came up running, narrowly avoiding each burst of gunfire before he ducked behind the heavy stone and metal wall of a particularly large building. He paused, hoping to plan his next move, and a pair of bullets tore through the wall right next to his head, startling him enough to keep him moving.

Lux drew on his Semblance to tear himself free from the brick wall he was half-embedded in, a burst of yellow light echoing from his shoulder as he jerked it out, stone crumbling around him. Another large-caliber round blasted into his chest, but he took it in stride, walking towards the metal guard tower that Alfred was perched on. The rabbit Faunus paused for just a moment, gathering even more strength through his Semblance, and then jumped, sailing through the air to the tower.

Alfred's lips twitched in a smirk as he fired again, hammering the bullet into Lux's leg and sending the man into a tumbling spiral. His smirk quickly vanished when Lux still managed to land on the tower, albeit head first instead of feet first. Lux rose quickly, years of practice making the groundwork easy, and Alfred ditched his rifle, pitching it over the side of the tower so the larger man couldn't use it against him.

"Afternoon, Eterna," Alfred said, his voice a rumbling growl in his chest. "Remember me?"

Lux paused, then frowned. "Mule?"

"Not anymore," Alfred said, drawing a pair of two-foot-long revolvers from the special holsters on his hips. He lashed out with one, and the metal spike on its end extended at his will, the chain attached to it whipping it towards Lux's chest in an arc. Not expecting the attack, Lux only managed to lessen the hit by turning slightly to one side, spinning him halfway around and putting his back to Alfred. "Not since the Pit," Alfred said, firing his second revolver into Lux's back.

Lux grunted as the bullet bounced off his Aura, then spun around and punched it, sending the spent round flying back at Alfred with enough force to knock him off of the tower. Alfred flipped in midair, spun around the barrel of his revolver, and fired it at the base of the tower, all in the span of half a second and before he'd even fallen past the tower's top. The round exploded in a cacophony of fire and thunder, tearing apart three support struts and ripping one of the legs from the ground.

The rabbit Faunus stumbled as the tower began collapsing, wincing at the shrieking whine of bending and snapping metal. He got enough of his balance back to leap from the platform, though he landed in a roll instead of on his feet. It cost him, as Alfred was on him instantly, lashing out with the metal spikes of his revolvers like he was wielding a pair of sickles. Lux parried Alfred to the best of his ability, but he wasn't as good with his sword as he was with his fists, and it wasn't long before his tank top was shredded to pieces.

"Where'd you get a Huntsman weapon?" Lux asked, his voice choppy from his lack of proper breath, and lashed out with his sword, driving Alfred back a pace.

Alfred smirked, but didn't answer, instead jumping back a dozen feet and leveling his revolvers at Lux again. He fired once with each gun, and Lux jumped high into the air to avoid the shots, only for the two bullets to collide in midair an inch in front of where his chest would have been. The hardened ceramic shells shattered on impact, unleashing a storm of Fire and Wind Dust that mixed into a flaming cyclone that singed Lux's boots and pants and sent him flying wildly off course, smashing him through the wreckage of the fallen tower. He rose back out of it with a grunt, holding a massive piece of metal debris over his hand, and threw it at Alfred as hard as he could, only for the donkey Faunus to leap over the thick sheet of steel.

Meanwhile, Storm was growing more and more annoyed. His quarry kept ducking around the corners of buildings, making him run to catch up, only to see nothing where his foe was supposed to be. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Storm called mockingly, drawing his sword from the side of his rifle as menacingly as he possibly could. "Come on, I've got shit I need to do!"

"Storm!" Storm turned when he heard his name, and smiled lazily when he saw Haruki and Ferrer running up to him. "Where's Douglas?" Ferrer asked, barely winded despite the run.

The militiaman's smile twisted into a grimace, and he shook his head. "I've been chasing him, but he must've gotten away from me," Storm admitted, glaring around them as if waiting for the ex-Vault doctor to jump out at him. "Bastard's quick, even without using his Semblance."

A loud crunch of metal sounded again, from where Alfred was fighting Lux, and they started jogging towards the sound. Storm was thinking furiously, hoping that he'd find his fellow militiaman standing victorious over his fallen foes.

But that wasn't the case.

Douglas rose back up, stretching his back with a grimace. "How do you do that without your spine hating you?" Douglas asked Lux, stepping onto the slab of metal he'd just slammed on top of Alfred. The militiaman still had his Aura and was plenty strong enough to lift the slab, but didn't have enough leverage to do it, so he was pinned, effectively taking him out of the fight.

"Practice," Lux grunted, turning to face the wide open fields just east of Yang's Rest. "Use your legs more," he added after a moment.

"Well, that was fun, but it's time to go," Douglas said, flashing a smirk over his shoulder as he saw Ferrer and his allies appear from around a corner. "Ta ta!" he exclaimed, turning into mist and flying east. He was closely followed by Lux, who took a single mighty leap that cleared hundreds of feet in seconds.

"Damn it!" Ferrer growled, seething as he watched his enemies leave. "Fucking gods damn it!" he spat, clenching his fists so tightly that an old scar split open on his left hand and started bleeding anew.

"Ferrer, calm down," Haruki said, glaring after Douglas and Lux. "If they come back, we'll take them down. Yah can count on it."

"Right," Ferrer said, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing. After a moment, and without opening his eyes, he growled, "Where the fuck is Alfred?"

"Waiting for you dick whistlers to get off my back and HELP ME!" Alfred yelled, startling the three men standing on the metal slab he was pinned by.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Damn bastards, didn't even notice I was under that fucking thing," Alfred grumbled under his breath, leaning against the wall of the Yang's Rest medical clinic. His eyes were closed, and he was half-asleep, but he was waiting for Ferrer and Haruki to finish talking. "Fucking cock suckers stood on me. Pieces of shit..."

I could go on. Alfred certainly was.

"This is bad," Ferrer was saying, pacing in front of the doctor. "If Lux knew who Alfred was, and Lux is working with Douglas, or for Douglas, then that means Douglas knows who Alfred was. And if they know who Alfred was, it'd only take a bit of guesswork to figure out who you and Asra were, Haruki."

Haruki grimaced, his hand twitching towards the revolver he wore at his hip; he kept it from going there, however, no matter how comforting he'd find it. "We're not those people anymore, Ferrer," Haruki said gruffly, drumming his fingers against his desk. "The Pit was a long time ago."

"Not long enough," Ferrer said, shaking his head. "Too many people still know too many things for you to be safe."

"So, what? Yah're putting us on lockdown?" Haruki asked, narrowing his eyes at Ferrer.

"No," Ferrer said, shaking his head again. "It might end up being safer for everyone else here if you left, but then Asra... it'd be bad."

Haruki grimaced again, this time letting his hand settle on his revolver's grip. "The Boss was a bad call. Ah told Griffon not tah do it, all of us did, but she went tah the top. Rest of us got shucked to the sand. Fucking bitch."

"Glad that bitch is dead," Alfred chimed in. He was still leaning against the wall, and his eyes were still closed, but his ears were just as sharp as usual.

"Ah'm glad you killed her," Haruki said, nodding at Alfred. "She needed tah die."

Alfred raised his head just barely, and his eye opened just wide enough to let him glare at Haruki. "Don't think I forgot all the shit you pulled back then, Ocelot."

"Alfred," Ferrer said, his tone commanding. Alfred met Ferrer's white eyes with his purple, and nodded his head before closing it again. "Good."

"Ah've gotta stay, at the least," Haruki said, as if Alfred hadn't interrupted. "If the Boss comes back, Ah'm probably the only one who can detox her. Might be that Rhonwen can do it, too, but Ah wouldn't bet on it."

Ferrer grunted, nodding his head. "We might have to let her in on this. Summer, too, if Aina thinks Rhonwen's likely to tell her."

"Hell, Ah'd bet my next week's wages on it," Haruki said, letting a smile cross his face. "Those two're thicker than blood, these days."

"Thicker than blood?" Ferrer repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Old Mistralt saying," Haruki said. "Means they're close."

Ferrer sighed, then nodded. "Alfred?" he asked, looking over at the androgynous militiaman.

"I've got nowhere else to go, Rust," Alfred said, not bothering to open his eyes. "Asking me if I'm staying or not is a pointless exercise."

"That actually wasn't what I was going to do," Ferrer said, making Alfred open his eye to stare at the mayor. "Summer's a good shot, but she probably doesn't know shit about fighting. I want you to teach her."

"That... might not be the best idea," Haruki said, grimacing. "Ah heard a few things from Storm. Summer might not be willing tah spend that much time with a man."

Alfred growled, opening his other eye and glaring at Ferrer. "You've heard the same things, haven't you?" Alfred asked harshly, drawing a nod from Ferrer, who ignored the militiaman's tone. "You think I'm feminine enough to break her of it."

"Basically, yes," Ferrer said, drawing another growl from Alfred. "I know you hate the way you look, Alfred, but right now it's just what we need. Getting Summer up to speed means we'll have a powerful weapon against the Grimm, and we'll have the time to train the militia how to better fight against people with Aura."

Alfred snorted off a laugh. "Getting those sorry excuses for soldiers some better training would make my job a hell of a lot easier," Alfred mumbled, closing his eyes again. "Fine, I'll do it. But I won't go easy on her."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Ugh, how much longer?" Rhonwen whined, rubbing her forehead soothingly. The sun was setting, and the moon had been in the sky for more than an hour, but Volka hadn't pulled to a stop in the last three, so Rhonwen was forced to deal with her recently discovered motion sickness by actively suppressing it. She was able to take some solace in the passing terrain, especially the nearby forest that seemed to stretch on infinitely; the green pine trees made for a pleasant contrast to the gritty plain they were driving through.

"We're nearly there," Asra said from the back seat, looking down at her PIP-Boy. The motion forced her to pull slightly away from Summer, an action neither of them was particularly happy about. "We should be able to see it in the next mile or so."

"Ah, should I start slowing down, then?" Volka asked. "I don't think we want to approach an NCR base at ninety miles an hour."

"It's probably for the best," Asra said, and Volka immediately pulled her foot off the accelerator. "Don't park too close, either. They know me here, but they don't know you, and it won't take me more than a few minutes from here with the moon out like this."

"Is that it?" Rhonwen asked, her bleary eyes pointed straight out the windshield and at the high stone wall that had just appeared over the horizon. It was nearly thirty feet tall, and bore several thick stone spikes at its base and set into the wall. As they neared, the four women could plainly see the guards stationed atop the wall, as well as the creases and grooves that designated a gate built into it.

"Yep," Asra said, nodding her head. "That's Camp Epsilon, the closest active NCR base to Yang's Rest."

"Well, at least now I know why you kissed me when I told you about this car," Summer said in a deadpan, prompting a chuckle from Asra. "So, what exactly are you delivering?" Summer added a moment later.

"Some Dust, fertile seeds, and a bit of paperwork," Asra said, rolling her shoulders as Volka pulled the car to a stop. "Stuff like that."

"Paperwork?" Summer asked, raising an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Oh, you know, new citizens and such," Asra said, smiling at Summer. "You're going to technically be an NCR citizen after today, you know. Same with you, Rhonwen," Asra added, looking at Rhonwen as the white-haired doctor fumbled with the door.

"Yay," Rhonwen mumbled flatly, finally managing to open the door and basking in the fresh air that a gentle breeze carried to her face. "Ah, that's so much better."

"Remind me again how _this_ is how you found out you get motion sick?" Volka asked, twisting the keys in the ignition so the engine turned off.

"Different kind of motion," Rhonwen said, pressing the side of her hand over her lips as she let out a sickly belch. "Plus, that kind of riding's more fun than this one."

"Well, look on the bright side," Volka said. "At least it's harder to be horny when you're sick."

Rhonwen smiled at Volka, her lips pressed tightly together. "But not impossible," Rhonwen murmured, turning her eyes to Asra, who was stretching her legs in the most sexual way she could to make Summer blush and keep watching. "It's also more annoying, being that worked up and not being able to do anything about it."

Volka snorted off a laugh, shaking her head. "Well, look at it this way," Volka began, "you'll make someone really happy to see you when we get back."

Rhonwen giggled at that, only to stop as it made her stomach roil. "Ugh, please don't make me laugh," Rhonwen mumbled, leaning against the side of the car.

Volka laughed at that, only to get coated in dust and dirt as Asra started running, kicking up a tremendous amount of the stuff. "Ack!" Volka spat, flailing.

Summer giggled, covering her mouth with her hand as she walked the short distance back to the car. "So, we've apparently got a few minutes before she gets back," Summer began, leaning next to Rhonwen. "Anything left to talk about that you don't want her hearing, or are we done with that stuff?"

Rhonwen shrugged, though it didn't much look like one; she'd pressed her back more firmly against the car in an attempt to cool off. "I've got nothing," Rhonwen said. "Volka? Any dark secrets we should know about that Asra doesn't?"

Volka, who had been brushing the dust off her clothes, froze, her eyes wide. "N-no," Volka stammered nervously, offering the most two-dimensional smile Summer and Rhonwen had ever seen. "W-what makes you think th-that?"

The Faunus and doctor blinked at her, then looked at each other. "She's lying, right?" Summer asked, drawing a nod from Rhonwen.

"No I'm not," Volka said, blushing and shaking her head fervently. "W-why would I lie?"

"Good question," Rhonwen said, cracking her neck to one side as she pulled away from the car. "Mind telling us?"

Volka remained silent, sweat beading on her forehead, and Summer added, "You can tell us, or we can tell Asra that this conversation happened. Your choice, but you better make it fast, or it'll get made for you."

Volka sighed, bit her lip, and nodded her head. "Fine," she mumbled, sitting down on the trunk of the car. "I..." Volka began, only to cut herself off with another sigh. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "I still don't have most of my memories back, but... I'm Yang Xiao Long."

Summer blinked in surprise, traded a glance with Rhonwen, and asked, "So?"

Volka's eyes snapped open, and she stared at Summer uncomprehendingly. "Huh?" Volka asked.

"What does it matter?" Summer asked, shrugging her shoulder. "You're still the person who helped me when I needed it most. You still gathered a ton of people and gave them a thriving, self-sufficient community. And, whether or not you're Volka Locke or Yang Xiao Long," Summer added, a very faint blush appearing on her cheeks, "you're still the only family I have left."

"Didn't we talk about this earlier, V?" Rhonwen asked, a smile on her lips and her hand on her hip. "It's not who you were that's important; it's who you are. And you are a kindhearted woman who cares more about the people around her than herself."

Volka stared at the two young women in front of her, then ducked her head, trying to hide the tears welling in her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled, her voice cracking and her shoulders shaking as she sobbed silently.

"Come on, Auntie V," Summer said, drawing a chuckle from the blonde. "What'll Asra say if she comes back and you've been crying? I might lose that bet if she's too concerned about you, and then I'd be down a massage."

Volka's chuckle turned into a full-belly laugh, and she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Right," Volka muttered, closing her eyes against the rest. "Right. Thank you, Summer, Rhonwen. But, please don't call me 'Auntie'? It makes me feel so old."

"Well, I mean, you are around two hundred and fifty," Rhonwen pointed out, making Summer giggle and Volka groan. "Ooh, wait, I just remembered!" Rhonwen exclaimed, getting both Volka and Summer to look at her oddly. "What was it like?" she asked.

"What was what like?" Volka asked slowly, tilting her head to one side.

"Having a threesome with your husband and sister," Rhonwen clarified, making Summer blush and look away from them. "I mean, I assume that's what happened. I know if I was married and had a sister I wouldn't be letting my husband sleep with her unless I was there."

Volka's blush had been steadily growing the whole time Rhonwen spoke, and she looked away and coughed, trying to force it to go down. "I... I mean, it was..." Volka stammered, shaking her head. "P-Penny was there, too."

Rhonwen gasped excitedly, and Summer's blush deepened even more. "Details, details!" Rhonwen exclaimed happily, making Volka stammer and Summer sputter.

It was this scene that Asra came back to. Though she felt a bit confused, she mostly just felt like the scene was too familiar to be important. "Okay, girls, enough of that," Asra said, startling Volka and Summer. "I want to get back to town as soon as possible, so let's get started, okay?"

"You're just saying that because you want Summer's hand running all over your body," Rhonwen said, grinning at Asra as the cat Faunus blushed. "Ooh, can I watch? I could give her some good tips on where to touch!"

Asra blinked at her, speechless; though her instinct was to say "No!", she couldn't help but think about what that could lead to. She stood silent for a long moment, her blush growing and growing.

"Asra!" Summer exclaimed, her own blush making Asra's seem pale in comparison. "Of course she can't!"

"Right," Asra said, half-mumbling. "Right. Of course she can't."

Rhonwen pouted at Summer, muttering, "Spoilsport," under her breath as she got back into the car. At some point, she'd managed to pull a pill from her bag of medical supplies, and she downed it with a sip of water from her canteen. "Well, come on then!" Rhonwen said, leaning back in her seat. "If you're not gonna give me something worth waiting for, I'd like to get back as soon as possible!"

Asra, finally snapping out of her fantasies, rolled her eyes at Rhonwen's childish attitude. "You still fine with driving, or do you want a break?" the Faunus asked Volka.

"I could use a break, but I'm probably gonna start nodding off in an hour or two," Volka said, shrugging. "I'll drive for a bit longer."

"Alright," Asra said, nodding. "One hour, then I'm driving again."

"Got it," Volka said, nodding in return.

Asra frowned, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Volka's; specifically, at the skin just below Volka's eyes. "Have you been crying?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

So! I have some things to say. And no, this isn't the Shade or the Seraph. I'm taking back these lower AN's as part of one of the things I need to talk about, since I do need to be able to communicate with you. That sounds really pretentious phrased like that, I know, but bear with me.

First, if you've been following this fanfic, you may have noticed that there are no Changes so Far chapters anymore. I've decided that they're a bit too much to handle, especially now that Volume 4 is pressing ever closer. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, those chapters were essentially a second story, explaining some differences between the show and this fic's backstory. If that sounds pretentious and egotistical, that's because it probably is, and that's part of why I've decided to stop with them.

Second, I may decide to start doing another fanfic in the near future. I'm not really gonna say what it entails, but it'd be a High School AU... for a while. I know, I'm being a coy bitch about it, but I do genuinely want to be able to surprise you if I end up doing it.

Third and last, I needed the break I took from this. I won't say why, or what I was doing in the interim (nothing worth mentioning), but I desperately needed it. Don't worry: I'll try to put out another chapter every month or so from now on. I still have fun writing this, as well as brainstorming ideas for what to do with it, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person who usually doesn't know how to get to where I want to, meaning that most of my ideas are for much later on than the immediate chapter, which can cause me to focus heavily on elements that won't actually do anything for a while.

If you've enjoyed the story so far, feel free to leave a review! Especially if you've got questions, or think that I've fucked something up. I won't get everything right; in fact, I need some things to be wrong for this story to work right. But, still, if I didn't mean for something to be incorrect, I'd appreciate being corrected!

Until next time, everyone. Hopefully it'll be before November.

Edit: Mother fucker, I always forget something! I used a song here, didn't I? Here's the details:

Throne (Bring Me The Horizon) [No real relevance, really, but it does seem like the kind of song Wingman would make use of]

I'll try to remember this stuff better in the future! I promise! I know I've said it before, and failed, but I promise this time! Ignore the fact that I probably promised this before!


	11. Chapter 10

Oh? You're back? I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked.

Enough with the sarcasm, Shade. I don't like talking to you either.

And yet you're still doing this.

I have my reasons.

Oh?

No, I won't tell you.

Ah. Oh well. Maybe you will someday.

I doubt that.

So! Onto the matter at hand, what shall we discuss first today, hmm?

Are you actually asking, or just being dramatic?

Nyahaha! Well, how about we talk about you giving weapon designs to your pet blacksmith, huh? My people were shocked to see your pawns with old Emerald's weapons.

I didn't give him those designs. I don't know how he learned about them.

Oh?

For all I know, they were on his PIP-Boy. It is Pre-War technology, after all, and may have belonged to someone who studied that period of time.

Somehow I doubt that.

What reason would I have to lie?

That depends on why you're making me tell you this story.

If you don't want to, I can leave. I'm sure you'd be happy to be alone for another few weeks before I come back.

Festering bitch.

 **XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX**

Rhonwen sighed in relief as she stepped out from Summer's car, her face pale and sweaty. "Thank fuck that's over," the Schnee groaned, basking in the cool breeze that so often flowed through Yang's Rest. Though it had taken them a full three days, instead of the two it took to get to Camp Epsilon, the four had returned to their home and parked just outside of Summer's workshop. "I really hope I never have to get in this thing ever again, Summer."

"Just because you get motion sick doesn't mean you have to bash on my car," Summer replied, a very small smile on her lips. She lifted her sleeping girlfriend's head from her lap as she got out from the backseat, gently setting her back down on the seat.

"Oh, that reminds me," Volka said, tossing the key to Summer as she also got out. "You owe Asra a massage, don't you?"

Summer grimaced exaggeratedly, a blush forming on her cheeks. "That's not fair," she mumbled, turning away from the blonde. "We barely got a chance to spar after making that bet."

"Well, it is technically your fault," Volka pointed out.

"How is it my fault that you ran over a cactus?" Summer asked, scowling at Volka, who was now whistling innocently. "Seriously, how did you not see that cactus? It's just a tree that tries to kill you!"

"I might be partially responsible," Rhonwen said, raising her hand slowly. "I may have been... doing something you don't approve of, while you and Asra were asleep."

"It was really distracting," Volka said, grinning at Summer's blush. "And I don't even swing that way."

"Thank you," Rhonwen said, smirking. "I always appreciate a compliment like that."

"And cacti are really useful, Summer," Volka added, confusing the young Faunus with the abrupt change of subject. "They can store up a lot of water, and some of them even grow fruit. They're lifesavers to people who tend to roam around the Wasteland."

Summer let out a long, frustrated sigh. "You still haven't said why it was my fault," Summer pointed out, scowling up at the taller women.

"Because you took so long fixing the car," Volka said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Summer blinked at her, multiple times, then let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a growl. "I only had one spare tire," Summer said, glaring at Volka. "I don't even know where I'd begin to look for one out here, so I had to patch up all the holes in the other damaged tire by melting them shut and putting tape on them. If Asra hadn't been there to flash-freeze the melted sections, we could've been stranded for days instead of hours," she finished, practically growling out the last words.

Volka chuckled nervously, taking a step away from the younger woman as she rubbed her neck sheepishly. "W-well, uh, thanks?"

Before Summer could respond to that, a thin metal chain wrapped around her legs and dragged her to the ground, making her yelp in surprise. "What the-?" Summer began, only to be cut off by another yelp as she started being dragged away. "Help!" Summer yelled at Volka and Rhonwen, who were staring past her with wide eyes.

"Alfred?" Volka asked, looking at the man who'd entangled Summer. "What the hell?"

"Go ask Ferrer," Alfred grumbled loudly, his pointed ears twitching in disdain as he dragged the kicking and screaming Summer away. "Damn bastard, making me work overtime..." the donkey Faunus continued to grumble under his breath, trailing off into vague noises.

Volka blinked at him, then let out a sigh. "Rhonwen, mind tagging along with them?" Volka asked, making Rhonwen look at her in shock. "I've got a feeling I know what's going on, but Alfred's not exactly a pleasant person, so Summer might need your help before long."

Rhonwen opened her mouth, only to close it again, speechless. After a moment of staring at Volka, she took off running after Alfred and Summer.

Volka watched them leave for a long moment before letting out a sigh and turning away. "What have you done this time, Rust?" Volka muttered, walking off in the direction of the town hall.

All the while, Asra slept in the backseat of Summer's car, her snoring only interrupted by an occasional mumble caused by her dreams.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You're a jackass, you know that?" Volka asked, tapping her fingers against her arm. She was leaning against one of the walls in Ferrer's office in the town hall, a well-kept building large enough to hold about half the town in its main room. The blacksmith's office was fairly barren, almost as proof of how little he was ever in it; a single desk and a few chairs were all that stood in the little room.

"Sometimes, you need a firm hand," Ferrer said, going over a few bits of paperwork. They wouldn't be sent out to the NCR until next month, but he tried to keep on top of it so he didn't need to do them all at once. "You know how this works, V. You can't overcome your fears until you face them."

"And having Alfred drag Summer off like that was, what, your idea of doing the right thing?" Volka asked, glaring at him. "Gods, Ferrer, you know what she's been through, don't you? Be a bit gentler."

Ferrer looked up from his work then, directing his white eyes to meet Volka's blue. "For the better part of a decade, she has refused psychiatric help with her problem."

"Because one of the people who tried to rape her was her psychiatrist!"

"Which makes it even more essential we pick the right man for the job," Ferrer said, folding his hands on his desk. "Alfred's unique appearance, combined with his general mannerisms, make him extremely likely to break her of her fears. Especially if Haruki is there to act as a counterbalance."

"And how were you hoping to explain to Asra what you're doing to her new girlfriend?" Volka asked, making Ferrer smile nervously. "You know, since she's going to be here most of the time from now on?"

"I was actually hoping you would tell her," Ferrer said. "It'll make this worse on me, but it'll make Summer focus on how much of a manipulative bastard I am. She'll grow to appreciate the honest jerk that Alfred is, as well as Haruki's kindness."

Volka blinked at him, then shook her head. "You think way too much like a villain," Volka said in a deadpan, drawing another smile from Ferrer. "What if this backfires on you, and she starts hating men in general?"

"She won't," Ferrer said simply. "She values her friendship with Storm too much for that."

Volka flinched at the name, a fact that Ferrer noticed but decided to ignore. "Then why not make him help her with this?" Volka asked, frowning at Ferrer.

"He's too busy training the new militiamen," Ferrer said. "If he wasn't, I would've gone with him over Alfred, though I still plan on sending her his way if his schedule clears up some. I based her parts of her new weapon off of his, after all."

Volka blinked again. "New weapon?" she asked, swallowing at the lump that appeared in her throat. "You mean... you're doing it again?"

Ferrer smiled warmly, then nodded, reaching below his desk and pulling out a sword similar to Volka's own. "Remember this?" Ferrer asked, hefting the weapon in one hand. Calling it a greatsword would be generous, but its blade was quite nearly wide and long enough to meet that descriptor, and its guard would have been more at home on a larger blade; as it was, the twin revolving shotgun barrels jutting from the guard and running lengthwise along the sword made it seem comically undersized, and the half-hidden triggers embedded in the hilt seemed clunky. "Asra brought it in about two weeks ago."

"Yeah, and we all pretty much decided that it was an old Huntsman weapon," Volka said.

"It's not old," Ferrer said, placing the weapon on his desk and tapping part of the blade. "The edge doesn't have the distinctive layering of Pre-War forging. It's only two layers thick, and was partially warped by heat during its forging."

"You mean-"

"Yes. Someone, somewhere in the Wasteland, found out the secrets to engineering Huntsman-class weaponry," Ferrer said, folding his hands over the sword. "And I managed to reverse-engineer the mechanics of it. Ask Alfred to show you the Emerald Reapers I made for him, if you get the chance; I plan on making a lot more of them and arming the best shots in the militia with them."

"Why only the best shots?"

"I can only go so far with the knowledge I have. For now, revolvers and their like are the only guns I can forge into Huntsman-class weapons," Ferrer said with a sigh. "So, we've been making a few Dust-infused munitions on the side, including explosives, though unfortunately Trisha took most of her secrets to the grave when she was killed by that Giant Nevermore."

Volka growled under her breath, slamming her fist into the wall behind her. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, forcing her temper back under control. "Sorry," she mumbled, her eyes still closed.

"I miss her too, V," Ferrer said softly. "Every life we lost that day was a tragedy, but we need to keep trying for the people who are still with us."

"Right," Volka said. "Right." After a moment, she opened her eyes and scowled suspiciously at Ferrer. "You aren't trying to manipulate me right now, are you?"

Ferrer grinned in response, inclining his head very slightly to her. "Could you blame me if I was?" he asked, prompting a smirk from the blonde. "Now, go on. I imagine Asra's trying to kill Alfred right now, so you should probably stop her."

Volka blinked at him, then groaned, slapping her palm against her forehead. "Shit, I think she's still asleep in the backseat of Summer's car," Volka mumbled, drawing a chuckle from Ferrer. "I'll be back with her in a minute."

"I'll make sure to wait outside. We've had enough property damage lately."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer hit the ground for the forth time that day, her chest slamming painfully against the loose dirt. Fear and anger were making adrenaline race through her veins, and she rolled to the side a half-second before the rubber dagger slammed into the ground where she'd been. Letting out a sound halfway between a growl and a whimper, Summer slammed the heel of her palm into the man's wrist, though she flinched away when she realized what she'd just done.

"Good," Alfred growled, sliding his fake knife free of the ground. "Some progress."

"Ah think that's a good stopping point for the moment," Haruki said, raising a hand palm-up to Alfred, a clear gesture for him to stop. "Let's take a break."

"We've been here for three minutes, Doc," Alfred grumbled, idly flipping the knife in his hand.

"And yah've been manhandling her, tah use a rather appropriate term," Haruki said. "Give her a few minutes."

Summer stood up shakily, nervously stepping away from Haruki when he raised a hand to brush some dirt off her back. "I-I'll be fine," Summer stammered, taking another few steps away and fighting the urge to swallow at the lump in her throat.

"It's okay, Summer," Rhonwen said gently, placing her hand on the shorter woman's shoulder. Summer was shaking, but almost imperceptibly; if Rhonwen hadn't actually touched her, she might never have known. "There's some shade over beneath those trees. Let's go sit down for a bit, okay?"

"Yeah," Summer said, swallowing. "S-sure."

The four of them were performing this little "trust exercise", if you could call it that, just next to the massive fields that the people of Yang's Rest grew their crops in. Nearly two dozen people were hard at work harvesting fruits and vegetables from their most recent harvest, grown thanks to the combined efforts of Ajax and Demeter. Speaking of the twins, they were stealing glances at Summer and Rhonwen, as well as at the good doctor and vicious militiaman who were helping the young wolf Faunus.

Well, "helping".

The trees that Rhonwen guided Summer over to had borne lemons only half an hour prior, but were barren of fruit for the time being. The field hands worked in sections to help keep track of how much work they'd done, and the orchard was the first section they normally worked through. Leaves and dead branches always wound up being knocked loose by their efforts, but Rhonwen figured they'd be soothing the wolf Faunus, as racist as she knew that sounded.

"You've been holding up rather well," Rhonwen said encouragingly as Summer all but collapsed against the tree trunk, leaning against the solid wood and taking long, deep breaths. "I don't think I'd be doing anywhere near this well in your shoes, Summer. I'd probably be curled up on the ground and crying my eyes out right now."

Summer looked up at the white-haired woman, blinking at her with silver eyes full of slowly ebbing fear. She shivered, then looked back down and closed her eyes, trying to keep focused on her breathing. Her hand found her pistol, the Imp, almost instinctively, and she immediately felt much calmer and more secure.

Rhonwen noticed Summer's breathing even out when she touched her gun, and was immediately struck with an idea. "I'll be right back, okay, Summer?" Rhonwen asked gently. "I just need to talk to Alfred and Haruki about something." Summer nodded slowly, trying to keep her motions slow to help keep herself calm, and Rhonwen walked away, facing the two men with a stern face and a very faint smile.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Are you sure about this?" Harold asked, raising his voice to be heard above the whirring hum of the Hawk's propellers. "For all we know, they want out!"

"We have our orders, Blackstone!" Neo growled at the man, glaring down at the town beneath them. "Know your role and shut your mouth!"

The two of them were standing on the outer platforms of a Hawk gunship, Harold clinging tightly the safety bar with his free hand. About twelve miles away and a few hundred feet beneath them sat a town belonging to the NCR, the sparsely packed buildings interspersed with guard towers manned by the town's militia.

Wait, why am I telling you this? You know it's Yang's Rest, don't you?

...

Yeah, okay. I'll keep going.

Harold sighed, then nodded his head. "Fine. Just land this thing, okay? I'll need to work a circle to get the right one!"

"You hear that, Lasky?!" Neo yelled, tapping a finger on the glass of the cockpit. Sergeant Phoenix Lasky raised a thumb at her, only to switch to flipping her off a moment later. "I like this one!" Neo said to Harold, grinning like a shark.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I hate you, and I hate this," Alfred grumbled as he stared down the sight of his hunting rifle, lining up to the first target that Rhonwen and Haruki had set up. He was laying prone on top of one of the guard towers, having all but shoved the current on-duty militiaman off when he appropriated it.

"How do you think I feel?" Summer mumbled, embarrassed and afraid. She shifted slightly, trying to make herself more comfortable, only to hold as still as possible when she heard a grunt from Alfred. She took a deep breath and looked down the scope of her Incubus, trying to keep her breathing steady enough for precision shooting.

"If only I had a camera," Rhonwen mused, looking upon the two Faunus with amusement.

"White-haired bitch," Alfred grumbled, trying to ignore Summer's weight on his back.

 _"If she's in control, she's less likely to freak out like she is right now," Rhonwen had said. "Instead of making her face her fear by fighting you, how about we make her face it by working with you?"_

"Target A in three," Haruki announced, making both Alfred and Summer stiffen. "Two. One. Mark."

The shots were almost simultaneous, and two bullets lanced into the center of the distant wooden target and burst, the thin rubber shells popping open and delivering a payload of red and blue paint. The twin impacts caused the roughly made circle of painted wood to bounce from the boards holding it up and spin erratically through the air before it landed with a thump.

Rhonwen blinked, amazed at their skill. "Wow," she breathed, staring at the downed target. "You two are that good?"

"The goal is tah make the bullets bounce off'a each other, remember?" Haruki asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Turning back to the two sharpshooters, he said, "Target B in three. Two. One. Mark."

And so it went. Alfred grumbled under his breath pretty much every second he wasn't shooting, and the only things keeping Summer from having a panic attack were the comforts of cold steel and flying bullets, along with Rhonwen's occasional encouragements.

After half an hour, and more than a hundred bullets fired, Haruki finally called them to a stop. "Ah think that's good enough for now."

"Thank fuck," Alfred growled, making Summer let out a timid squeak and jump to her feet. "I don't think I could've lasted another second of that shit. Seriously, girl, how did you manage to find my fucking lungs?"

Summer was shaking again, but her breathing was even, likely because she was tightening her grip on her rifle. "I-I'm sorry," Summer stammered quietly, backing away from Alfred until she had pressed her waist to the thin railing behind her. "I-I didn't... I d-didn't kn-know."

"Alfred," Haruki said, his tone warning. The militiaman glanced over at the doctor, only to realize he wasn't looking at him; instead, Haruki was looking out at the horizon, where a solitary figure had appeared.

"On it," Alfred said, drawing a short-range pistol scope from his hip and sighting down it at the approaching figure. "Orange hair, odd outfit. Did Shula dye her hair again?"

"Not recently," Haruki grunted, glancing over at Summer and gesturing for her to raise her rifle.

"Is that a grenade launcher?" Alfred mumbled, squinting down his scope at the now sprinting woman. Seeing her heft it and fire, he growled, tossed his scope to the ground, and lifted his rifle, bracing it against the tower's railing. "Incoming!"

Summer had already lined up her shot and fired before Alfred could finish speaking, her paint-round impacting the grenade and detonating it before it could get more than half a mile, causing an explosion of pink smoke. "Are there any live rounds up here?" Summer asked, laying herself prone on the ground and sighting down her rifle's scope yet again.

"No," Alfred grumbled, shooting the next grenade the still-distant woman fired. "The good doctor said it would be a bad idea to give us real bullets while we're doing this crap."

"Which one?" Summer asked jokingly, drawing a brief chuckle from Alfred. Haruki blinked at Alfred in surprise; in all the years he'd known Alfred, he'd never seen the Faunus chuckle, or even smile. Rhonwen was surprised as well, but mostly by how quickly Summer could adapt to a stressful situation.

"Doc, raise the alarm," Alfred ordered.

"Right," Haruki said, gesturing for Rhonwen to head down the ladder. "Keep her busy while we get Ebeneezer."

"Shit, volley!" Summer exclaimed, firing at one of the half dozen grenade rounds that were now streaking towards the town. The woman was much closer now, only two miles away, meaning there was very little room for judgement when it came to aiming. Summer was only able to take down half of the grenades.

Fortunately for her, Alfred took out the others. "Good shots," he growled. It was not an annoyed growl, or an angry growl; it was the contented rumble of a well-fed predator.

Summer smirked and said, "You too. Bit slow on that last one, though."

Alfred let out a trio of short, wheezy laughs, nearly causing Haruki to fall from the ladder he was climbing down. "Think I just changed my mind about you, girl."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"So this is her town, huh?" The woman was speaking in a low, almost playful growl, a direct contrast to the anger and frustration shining in her green eyes. Small globs of paint all but ruined the white shirt she was wearing, though they'd somehow managed to avoid the heart-shaped cleavage window and her metal-lined black jacket. Her pink skirt had taken a direct hit, however, and was occasionally dripping blue paint. "Yang's Rest... she doesn't deserve it, that's for sure," she said, shaking her head and setting her mess of orange hair shaking.

The oddest part about her, in Ebeneezer's opinion, was the fact that she was translucent. He could see straight through her and at the expansive wasteland behind her, even from his hiding spot behind someone's home.

The woman let out a sigh, shaking her head again. "I'm in the wrong here, aren't I?" he heard her mumble as she stared up at the cloudy sky. "What would you do if you were here, Ren?"

Ebeneezer steeled his mind, hefted his shield, and stepped out from behind the building. "Ma'am," he said, drawing the woman's attention to him. "Were you the one who fired grenades at this town?"

The woman blinked at him, then nodded her head. "Who else around here has a grenade launcher?" she asked playfully, lifting her massive weapon with a single hand. It was more than three feet long, all gleaming pink steel.

"Then, as the sheriff of this town, I'm afraid I need to place you under arrest," Ebeneezer said, tapping his Adamantine long sword against the steel pauldron he wore to protect himself from it. "Come quietly and I won't have to hurt you."

The woman smiled sadly, shaking her head again. "Can't do that, kid. I've got something I need to do first."

Ebeneezer sighed, and nodded. "Then let's get this part over with, shall we?" he asked, raising his shield defensively.

"Let's."

She moved like a snake high on Jet, crossing the near thirty feet between them in less than a second, and her grenade launcher changed as she charged, turning into a massive hammer that she slammed into the sheriff's shield. Pink smoke flooded the space around them, and the impact and detonation sent Ebeneezer flying away. He slammed back-first into a house, though mercifully didn't break through the wall.

Nora Valkyrie followed him out of the smoke, taking a single massive leap that sent her nearly sixty feet into the air. At the apex of her jump, she fired her weapon up into the sky, sending her spinning down onto the still-recovering sheriff, who only barely managed to get his shield up in time to brace himself.

The snap of his arm breaking could be heard on the other side of town, his Aura torn to pieces by the force of the impact. Ebeneezer shouted wordlessly, collapsing to the ground and dropping his sword.

"I'm sorry," Nora said sincerely, bowing her head to the injured sheriff. "This wasn't personal."

And then she walked away, leaving Ebeneezer nearly mindless from the pain in his arm.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Damn it," Alfred growled under his breath, glaring at Nora through his surplus pistol scope. "Ebeneezer lost."

"Is... is he..." Summer began to ask, only to trail off. For some reason, she had a hard time saying the words.

"No. Looks like a broken arm."

Summer breathed a sigh of relief, then let herself harden back up. Her face a mask of steely anger, she stood up from her crouch and faced the drop before her. Falling wasn't something she'd ever really dealt with in the Vault, so it was hard for her to reconcile just how high up she was. "Let's go get this bitch," Summer growled, preparing to launch herself over the edge.

"Wait," Alfred said, making Summer pause. "Ferrer wanted you to have this if you made some decent progress," the donkey Faunus said, unbuckling an extra weapons belt and handing it to her.

On the belt was a holster, and within the holster was an SMG. Boxy, and a little under a foot and a half long, it looked quite a bit less intimidating than Summer's shotgun or rifle. What's more, it had a length of metal protruding from the front, just beneath the barrel, that looked like it was held in place by a mechanism.

"Ferrer's been on a roll the past few days, making weapons like the old Huntsmen," Alfred explained as Summer took the weapon from him. "That bayonet is detachable, and filled with Dust. Meter on the side tells you how much is in it. The gun itself takes 9mm rounds, and has three settings: semi-auto; two-shot burst; and full auto."

"Almost sounds more like a rifle than an SMG," Summer commented, strapping the belt around her chest so the gun itself was hanging by her hip.

"Pretty much," Alfred said, nodding in agreement.

"You're not jealous or anything, right?" Summer asked, raising an eyebrow at Alfred.

He chuckled, then shook his head. "Nah. I got something better," he said, tapping the revolvers at his hips. "Calls them Emerald Reapers."

"Cool," Summer said, looking at the weapon she now wore. "Wonder what I should call you... Succubus."

"Huh?"

"My new gun's name is Succubus."

Alfred chuckled and shook his head again. "We should probably get moving. That bitch won't be standing around waiting for us."

"Right."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Nora hummed to herself as she walked, casually bearing her hammer over her shoulders as if it was made of cardboard and not high-density steel. She was only mildly concerned by the way she could see through her feet, being more focused on her current objective; what bothered her more was the way the civilians ran away from her when they saw her, and the militiamen tried to detain her when they noticed her.

But she was used to blood on her Magnhild, so she wasn't too annoyed.

"You know, maybe I should've asked where exactly the thing was?" Nora wondered aloud, pausing to stare up at the sky. Mere minutes earlier, there had scarcely been a cloud in sight; now, dark grey storm clouds were moving in from the north, barely leashed electricity flickering among their edges. "Neat."

"You know," a voice said, bringing Nora out of her idle musings and shifting her attention to the man now standing in front of her, "most people who invade Yang's Rest don't just walk past the civilians. I wonder why you're different?"

Nora's smile was brittle, the reminder of her old friend-turned-enemy making her heart hurt. "I've got no reason to hurt them," Nora said, shifting her grip on her hammer so its head slammed harshly into the ground. "Heck, the only reason I hurt those poor guardsmen was 'cause they got in my way."

"Oh?" Storm asked, raising an eyebrow. Sparks flickered down from his eyes as he stared at her, assessing her power. "Looks like there's not much I could do to stop you, huh? So, mind telling me why you're here?"

"Oh, I just need to knock down a statue of an old friend," Nora said with forced cheer. "I hope you don't mind too much."

Storm sighed, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and sticking it to his back with a minor Aura exercise. "Alright, follow me," Storm said, kneading at his forehead to ease his newly born headache. "I'll lead you there."

"Eh?" Nora asked, taken aback. "Why?"

"As the head of the militia, my duty is to protect the people who live here," Storm explained, giving Nora an annoyed look. "Including my subordinates. And if you just destroy an old statue that almost no one cares about, then head on your way, you'll have stopped hurting my people."

"Well, yeah, I guess that's right," Nora said, nodding her head.

"Besides, Ferrer's been planning on tearing that thing down for a while," Storm continued, starting off down a side street and beckoning the ghost to follow him. "It's made out of some useful metals, and we could always some more raw materials. Especially now that we've got a good mechanic living here."

"Oh?" Nora asked politely, not really caring.

"Mm-hmm. Sole survivor of her Vault," Storm said, making Nora flinch. "Old bloodline, too. Goes by Summer Dream, but she's a descendant of one of the old Huntsmen."

"Which one?"

"Ruby Rose."

"So little Summer had some brats of her own, huh?" Nora asked wistfully, thinking back to the few times she'd met Summer Rose. "Last time I saw her, she told me she found boys 'yucky'. 'Course, she was four at the time."

Storm chuckled. "She's not the only descendant we've got 'round here, either. These days, it seems like you could throw a rock in any direction and hit someone descended from someone famous. Hell, this town was founded by three of them: Asra's descended from Blake Belladonna, Volka's from Yang, giving our town its name, and Ferrer's..." Storm trailed off, eyeing the ghostly Huntress behind him. "Well, he's one of yours, actually."

Nora blinked at him, surprised, then let out a chuckle that turned into a full-belly laugh. "That's great!" Nora exclaimed between laughs. Once she'd calmed down a bit, she let out a relieved sigh, wearing a wide grin on her lips. "My son must've had a full life after I died, huh? And he must've met a girl at some point, too! Ooh, I wish could've been there! I wonder what the wedding was like..."

Storm felt his eye beginning to twitch as the specter behind him started rambling. 'Why is it always me who has to escort weirdos around town?' he thought as he took a turn around a corner. "We're here," he said a moment later, gesturing at the statue in front of him.

And at Ferrer, Asra, and Volka, who just happened to be standing in front of it.

"Asra, calm down," Volka urged the cat-eared Faunus, her arms hooked beneath Asra's shoulders in an attempt to keep her from attacking Ferrer. "He's just doing what he thinks best, without bothering to ask either of us. You know, like always!"

"Let go of me, V!" Asra yelled, practically foaming at the mouth as she tried to struggle out of the blonde's grip. She let out a feline yowl and planted her feet, dragging herself an inch closer to the steel-haired man.

"Asra, you know as well as I do that this is in Summer's best interests," Ferrer said, rubbing at his forehead and the headache brewing behind it. "She needs to get over her phobia of men if she's going to have a chance out on her own."

Asra let out another yowl and thrashed against Volka's arms, nearly springing free from her hold. "Bastard!" she growled, glaring at Ferrer, who threw up his arms in frustration.

"You just want to fight it out? Fine, I'm game," Ferrer growled right back, using his Semblance to shift his thick steel bracers into a shield and spike combination. "Let her go, V."

"Um, sir?" Storm called over, distracting the town's three founders. "I've got an old ghost who wants to tear down the statue."

"You're kidding," Ferrer said dryly, looking past him to the translucent Nora. "Why is it that everything strange happens around here?" he muttered under his breath, stepping to one side. "Fine, just get it over with. And try not to grind it into dust, okay?"

Nora didn't answer him, or even hear him. Her eyes were focused on Volka, who was staring at her just as intently.

"Yang," Nora growled, clenching her fists so tightly that one of her gloves broke under the stress.

"Nora?" Volka mumbled, stumbling and falling to the ground, her eyes wide. She screamed in pain and terror as memories assaulted her mind, clenching her arms around her head in an instinctive attempt to shield herself.

Nora screamed as well, a wordless battle cry containing all of her hate and fury for the blonde in front of her, but then shackles made from multi-colored light appeared around her limbs and stretched them apart, leaving her stuck in a T-pose.

"Volka!" Asra yelled, whirling on her feet and kneeling at the downed woman's side. "Volka, what's wrong?!"

Volka screamed again, and rolled so she was laying on her arms and knees instead of her back. Tears rolled down her face, dropping into the dusty dirt beneath her as they poured from her eyes.

"Volka!" Asra shouted at her, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder. This turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do, as it resulted in Volka's elbow slamming into Asra's chin, breaking her Aura and her jaw in a single blow.

Asra collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap as Volka continued to wail in pain and fear, blood trailing from the cat Faunus's mouth.

"What the hell?!" Storm murmured, raising his gun shakily and aiming at Volka. "Ferrer! What the hell's going on?!"

"Don't- behind you!" Ferrer yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands.

Storm turned around just in time to duck beneath a wild swing from Nora's hammer; the ghost had managed to free herself from her shackles, the shattered constructs of light slowly fading out of existence. Nora let out a wail of her own, her scream loud and piercing enough to shatter windows hundreds of feet away, and started to stomp towards Volka.

The sound roused the blonde from her memories, and she looked up to see Nora standing over her, the whites of her eyes melded into her irises, her hammer raised high over her head. Volka, practically unconscious from the sudden influx of memory, reacted on instinct, drawing her sword from her back and lunging for the ghostly woman's legs.

Earth shattered beneath Nora's hammer as it bore down upon Volka's legs, and transparent pink blood flew from the specter's legs as the blonde cut clear through them in a flash of yellow light. Nora fell to the ground and let out another banshee wail, swinging hatefully at Volka from her prone position, only succeeding at knocking her further away.

Volka rose to her feet shakily, her eyes flickering wildly between blue and yellow and red, seemingly at random. She clutched a hand over her face and screamed again, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Then she ran, dust trailing behind her as she fled as far away as she could.

"Volka! Volka!" Ferrer called after her, to no effect; she either ignored him or couldn't hear him through what was happening to her. "Damn it! Storm! What the fuck is happening?!" he yelled at the militia captain, who was still blinking at the massive crater Nora's hammer had left.

"How the hell should I know?!" Storm shouted back, barely keeping himself from panicking.

"Asra?!"

Summer's yell was followed by the heavy schluck of metal driving through flesh, and Storm and Ferrer both turned to see Alfred driving the point of one of his Emerald Reapers through Nora's skull as the wolf Faunus ran past them. Nora stopped her screeching, and shattered into shards of pink light that faded away into nothingness.

"Asra?" Summer mumbled, fear making her voice weak and her eyes watery as she fell to her knees beside Asra. "No, no, no..." Summer murmured, placing her fingers on Asra's neck to feel for a pulse. "Yes, okay." The younger Faunus couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, her heart soaring as she felt the steady thrum of Asra's heartbeat. She withdrew her hand and drew out her PIP-Boy's keyboard, sending a frantic message to Rhonwen that Asra was unconscious and bleeding from the mouth. "Hey!" Summer yelled over to Ferrer and Storm, who were both still arguing. "Help me get her to the clinic!"

Ferrer looked down at Asra, then off in the direction Volka had run. "Storm, you heard her," Ferrer growled, gesturing. "Alfred, you're with me."

"What?!" Summer growled, infuriated that he wasn't devoting every resource he could to helping Asra. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Going after Volka," Ferrer spat back, making Summer flinch. "She ran off for some reason. Alfred, stick with me," Ferrer added, not noticing Summer's eyes widen. "If you see her, do what you can to delay her until I can restrain her."

Alfred grunted, his eyes briefly flicking to Summer before they returned to Ferrer. He tilted his head slightly to Summer, then took off after the mayor as he started running.

"Here," Storm said, kneeling next to Summer. "I'll handle her body, you keep her head steady, okay? From the looks of things, she's got a broken jaw, and that can get worse if it's not handled properly. You hear me?"

"Y-yeah," Summer said, swallowing at the lump forming in her throat. "Yeah. Okay."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Got her in sight," Alfred grunted, glaring ahead of him. Volka had managed to gain an impressive lead over him and Ferrer, but was starting to slow down; unlike her, they trained with the militia on a regular basis, resulting in a much better fortitude for running.

"Stop her," Ferrer panted out, his breaths coming in ragged gasps. His face was red, his vision was starting to tunnel, and he really regretted trying to keep up with Alfred.

Alfred said nothing, instead speeding up dramatically; his sprint, while not as fast as Asra's on a moonlit night, was still faster than most people could ever do. He barreled into Volka like a linebacker, planting his shoulder firmly between her shoulders as he tackled her to the ground.

Despite Volka being vastly stronger than Alfred, he managed to keep her pinned by preventing her from gaining the leverage she'd need to fling him off. That didn't stop her from trying, though, and he struggled to keep her down.

"Let go!" Volka shouted, struggling to get free and failing.

"Just wait for Ferrer," Alfred growled, striking the back of her head with his elbow in a futile attempt to pacify her.

Ferrer made it to them a minute later, and nearly collapsed to the ground, though he settled for doubling over and taking deep, wheezy breaths. "Volka, what the hell?" Ferrer finally gasped out, raising his head to glare at the downed woman. "Why'd you... take off like that?"

"You don't..." Volka began to snap at him, only to trail off, her eyes widening. "Get off, Alfred! Hurry!" she shouted, renewing her struggles against the donkey Faunus.

"Why?" Ferrer asked.

"They're coming, you idiots! The Grimm!"

As if on cue, hundreds if not thousands of black figures appeared on the horizon, forming a near solid wall of black from west to south. Alfred, too shocked by what he was seeing, was easily flung off by Volka, who darted back to her feet and glared at the two men.

"This is why I left," Volka spat, her eyes turning red. "I can't... I can't stay like this! Not when they're coming for me!"

"Volka, what the fuck is happening?!" Ferrer yelled, clenching his fists so tightly that the skin over his knuckles began to tear.

"I remember everything, Ferrer," the blonde said, turning away from him. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued, saying, "I'm not Volka. Volka never existed. She was just... the way I tried to reconstruct my life off of what little memory I kept."

She glared at the encroaching tide of Grimm, pulling her sword from her back and extending it to its full length in a single motion. "My name is Yang Xiao Long," she said, starting to run away from Ferrer and Alfred again. She ran west, keeping the horde's attention on her and drawing them further away from the town bearing her name.

Ferrer stared after her, gritting his teeth as he watched her run. "Damn it," he mumbled. "Damn it! Fuck!"

"I don't think I can take that many," Alfred commented, scowling at the sheer mass of Grimm. "We need to get back to town, Ferrer. Get the militia on our southwest front and prepare them to take out the Grimm that'll spill off from that."

"Right," Ferrer growled, turning back to Yang's Rest. "Do it, Alfred. I'll catch up."

Alfred grunted affirmatively, taking off at a sprint. Ferrer turned to glare at Yang as she ran away, hiding his tears from Alfred as he mourned the loss of one of the few friends he had. "You're still Volka," Ferrer mumbled, shaking his head as he started jogging back to town. "You wouldn't try to protect us like this if you weren't."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Well, that went well," Harold said dryly, looking from afar at the mess Nora had made of the town. He was using a rather inefficient application of Wind Dust, distorting the air in front of him in order to see things from further away; a good set of binoculars would've worked better, too. "About half of the militia has been disabled, and two of the founders are similarly out of commission. Thoughts?"

Neo grunted, looking through her own pair of binoculars. "In about two weeks, we'll be able to move in a significant force," Neo said. "Give them medicine, let them borrow a few doctors, station a few soldiers here while their militia recovers. They'll turn from the NCR and give us a better staging ground."

"I still don't like this," Harold said. "It's dishonest. And really obvious, if they've got anyone smart enough to put the pieces together."

"That's why we wait a week before making contact," Neo said. "They'll be less likely to believe we did it if there's enough time between now and our appearance, plus some additional time between our promise to help and when help arrives."

Harold grunted, frowning at the town. After a moment, he asked, "Any guesses on what that screaming was about? Or why she broke from my control?"

"No clue," Neo said. "I don't know how the Maiden magic works."

"Aren't you a witch?"

"I was apprenticed to one until the bitch discarded me," Neo growled, glaring at Harold. "And the Maiden magic came from a wizard, not a witch."

"What's the difference?" Harold asked, making Neo spit on him. "Eugh, gross! What the fuck?"

"Let's head back," Neo said, turning back to the airship. She had to step over the corpse of Sergeant Phoenix Lasky, killed by her own blade, to get to the cockpit. "He's starting to stink."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Damn it," a militiaman near Summer mumbled, staring at the sheer mass of Grimm bearing down on Yang's Rest. His tan skin was broken by splotchy patches of paler skin, evidence of the genetic disorder wreaking havoc on his body. His eyes were a cloudy grey, a stark contrast to his shimmering curtain of purple hair and the dozen colors his eccentric outfit was made from; seriously, it was an eyesore. You're better off not hearing about it. "How are there so many of them?"

"Shut it, Lei," another militiaman said, tossing a hefty light machine gun to him like it was no larger than a pistol; he caught it with a similar lack of care and effort. Her brilliant red hair was broken by the long pair of rabbit ears jutting up from them, and her eyes were a shade of blue that Summer had never seen before. She stood a good seven feet tall, and was built like a bodybuilder. Her blue overalls, worn over a plain white shirt and a pair of thick boots, paired well with her natural tan, making her look like a farm hand. "We're not here to question; just to shoot the damn things."

"Right," Lei drawled, masking his obvious fear beneath a veneer of awkward annoyance. "Different question, then: why do we have a civilian with us?"

"Because you need all the help you can get," Summer said, looking down the scope of her Incubus and trying to find the most obvious target. "Right, Shula?"

"Damn right, Summer," the rabbit-eared Faunus said, nodding her agreement. "The doctors are prioritizing fixing up the militiamen who can get back out here in a hurry, but even then we'd be shorthanded for this. So, a lot of civvies volunteered to help out."

"Well, you might as well give that rifle to someone who could actually use it, girl," Lei said, gesturing at Shula.

Summer kept herself from snorting derisively, instead focusing on her frustration over what just happened, her fear from what she'd been enduring, and her utter hatred for the Shade. Silver sparks fell from her eyes as she sighted down the scope, and she fired at her target, still more than a mile away.

Silver flame exploded into being a second later, erupting around the head of a particularly large Creep and engulfing the cluster of smaller Creeps surrounding it. The flames faded near-instantly, the powerful mixture of silver magic and Dust leaving nothing behind.

Summer adjusted her aim, looking for another target to expend her powerful Dust-augmented bullets on. Her chest and her scarred shoulder were in pain, she knew, but she couldn't feel it, thanks to the dose of Med-X she'd pilfered from Rhonwen's duffel bag, still in the trunk of her car. "Just keep me covered," Summer said, drawing upon the power of her eyes again as she sighted on a particularly agile Ursa Major. "I've only got six shots left of this."

"One mile out!" Ferrer's shout came from above, bolstered by the megaphone in front of him. He was standing atop a guard tower, looking through a pair of binoculars at the incoming horde, and making sure everyone, militia and volunteer, knew the timing needed. "ETA four minutes!"

"So, where's your weapon, Shula?" Lei asked, eager to keep from thinking about the Grimm.

Shula couldn't help but grin, patting the box she wore on her hip. "Not quite time yet," Shula said, her grin only widening when Lei's jaw dropped open.

"You got it working again?!" he asked excitedly, drawing a giggle from her.

"Thanks to Summer," Shula said, her voice practically drowned out by Summer firing at another Grimm, swallowing half a dozen Beowolves in a swath of silver flame. "Thanks to Summer," she repeated, rolling her eyes. "She fixed up the camera and linked it to the main component again."

"Ooh, now I'm excited!" Lei exclaimed, bouncing on his heels as he turned back to the oncoming horde. "I get to see a real Huntsman weapon in action!"

Summer grit her teeth as she fired again, this time punching a wide crater through the head of a King Taijitu; another shot took out its second head, but Summer was beginning to worry about how useful these tactics were. She and the other snipers could take out priority targets, but there were still nearly a thousand Grimm rushing down on them.

"Dust! Engage!" Ferrer shouted as Summer took out a particularly large Alpha Beowolf and the two Creeps that were closest to it.

At his word, several members of the militia unleashed potent Dust-based attacks. Writhing serpents made of water crashed into the Grimm horde, flinging smaller Grimm around with enough force to kill them and still managing to check some of the larger beasts; miniature tornadoes bearing violet flames whirled into being and stormed through their ranks, leaving smoke and dissolving Grimm in their wake; and the earth itself shattered upwards as the horde drew ever closer, stalagmites thrusting up through the Grimm unfortunate enough to be up front.

Summer found herself spending her last few Dust-augmented rounds on a particularly aggressive Grimm, growling in her throat when she saw that even her silver flames couldn't put the beast down. Chunks had been torn from its hide, and it was missing part of its mask and head, but it kept moving, and only when Ferrer announced the two minute mark did Summer truly realize just how massive the creature was; it stood nearly thirty feet tall at the shoulder, and the hairs of its mane were longer than Summer was tall. Its long, ape-like forearms dragged across the ground as its more feline hind legs propelled it at high speeds, and its leonine tail flicked about with enough force to crack like a whip. What's more, the unmistakable glow of Dust poured from its eyes, and its roar shook and shattered the earth beneath it.

"Dust-augmented Grimm on the front!" Summer shouted. "Couldn't drop it!"

"Damn it!" Lei growled, staring at the massive lion Grimm. "A Nemean?! Really?!"

"Hunters!" Ferrer yelled into his megaphone. "Go!"

"Looks like I'm up," Shula said, letting a smirk cross her face. "Wish me luck?"

"Done," Lei said, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Come back safe, Shula."

"Done," Shula said with a grin.

With that, she jumped away, bouncing high into the sky as she activated her Dust-powered weapon. Threads of rigid blue light streamed from the box, forming around her hands into the shape of an intricate scythe, thicker lines forming the snaith than those forming the blade. The ancient weapon of Velvet Scarlatina, kindled to life by her descendant, blazed its glory on the battlefield once more as Shula dropped from the sky, her replica of the Crescent Rose blasting a single shot upwards to speed her descent.

Spinning in an arc, Shula flicked her hand across a nearly invisible lever hidden in the snaith, causing the scythe's beard to flick itself upwards and lock into its new position with a metallic clunk. Her blade cut cleanly through the wounded Nemean, bisecting it and nearly burying itself into the ground from her excess of momentum. Shula regained her footing and glanced around quickly, only barely managing to duck beneath the swinging claws of a Beowolf. She twisted on her heel and rammed her elbow into the Grimm's chest, knocking it far enough away from her that she could cut through it with her hard-light construct.

Shula wasn't the only one wielding a Huntsman-class weapon into battle, of course: there was also Alfred, who charged in strong with his Emerald Reapers and tore a line clear through the advancing horde, slicing through any that dared close with him and shooting Dust-based bullets at the rest. Fire and wind surged in his wake, leaving a ragged trail that served to separate the Grimm he'd cut off from the rest of the group, making them easy prey for the militia and volunteer sharpshooters.

A man, years younger than Summer, charged into the horde wielding a thin metal baton sparking with barely leashed flame and lightning. Every strike he made caused an explosion of elemental fury that sent numerous Grimm flying away from him, and was even enough to kill a Death Stalker in a trio of rapid strikes. His ebony cloak flared back in the wind his attacks created, revealing his strong arms and bare chest, as well as his black trousers and leather boots.

Another man, wearing a suit of brown leather armor that came up to his nose, walked calmly into the horde, swinging his six-foot-long lance around like he was wielding a short sword, and to devastating effect. Within seconds, after ending the lives of nearly two dozen lesser Grimm, he found himself facing a King Taijitu, and jumped away from its strike. As he landed, mist gathered beneath him, forming into the spectral image of a shaggy horse in mid-gallop and bearing him up into the air. His ghostly Semblance charged him towards the snake's white head, and he plunged his lance through it in a masterful display that tore it free of the serpent. His mount dispersed in a cloud of brown fog as the ripped off head dissolved, only to regather itself beneath him as he spun around in midair. His next charge killed the second head, ending one of the largest Grimm on the battlefield.

A woman, her white hair streaked through with blue and green stripes, leaped up into the sky, traveling further than Summer would've thought possible, only to stop at the same altitude as the encroaching trio of Nevermores and stay level with them, never dropping an inch. She raised an arm bearing an Amaterasu model PIP-Boy, and swiped at the avian Grimm with an overly-large metal fan; wind and sand tore free from the motion, propelled by the copious amounts of Wind and Earth Dust stitched into her green robe, and rammed into the leading Nevermore with enough force to turn its head into powder.

There were nearly a dozen of the Hunters, as Ferrer had called them, and each of their acts was just as impressive as the last. But it wasn't enough. Even though they'd shaved near a quarter their number from the Grimm horde, there were still more than six hundred of them, facing the collected force of around sixty militiamen and eighty volunteers, including the Hunters already meeting them in battle.

"Sayen!" Ferrer yelled as the Grimm drew to within a quarter mile of the town.

The woman standing next to him, slender and elegant in her soft purple gown, closed her red eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her mouth, music began to spill out from the air around her, carrying her voice nearly half a mile away despite its heavy beat.

 _"I am a nation, I am a million faces_

 _"Formed together, made for elevation_

 _"I am a solider, I won't surrender_

 _"Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers."_

Her song filled the air with a measured beat, and Summer could feel something pressing against her mind; she wasn't worried by it, though she didn't know why until she understood what it was. The singing woman's Semblance was linking her to the rest of the fighters, making their instincts line up to face their foes in unison.

"Everyone! Attack!" Ferrer finally yelled at a break in the song, drawing a roar from every man and woman who'd gathered to fight.

 _"You can take my heart, you can take my breath_

 _"When you pry it from my **cold dead chest**!"_

Summer raised her Succubus in the exact same second as every other gunner raised their weapons, and they opened fire as a single being, a single whole. The wall of bullets tore into the Grimm as the shooters let their instincts kept them from hitting their allied swordsmen, who charged into battle with their steps in alignment.

Summer kept her shots tame by comparison to many of the other shooters, sticking to her weapon's two-shot burst mode instead of putting it to it's full-auto mode. She was in the grip of both her Semblance and that of her ancestor's, drawing upon her PIP-Boy's store of Ruby's soul to keep herself from slowing down too much from her own Semblance, and her eyes dripped with silver sparks as she upon that power as well. Every shot she made that didn't outright kill a Grimm crippled or slowed one enough for the others to take it down, so she stuck to shooting at the more threatening targets whenever possible.

Despite their unity, despite their overwhelming power, the people of Yang's Rest didn't make it through the battle unscathed. As Summer watched, a man had his Aura broken by an Ursa, which then tore its massive clawed paw into the man's chest, pulverizing his intestines and breaking bones with little care for the carnage around them. A woman was swallowed whole by a King Taijitu, her Aura having been broken by a Beowolf moments before; she didn't scream for very long.

 _"This is how we rise up!_

 _"Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train!_

 _"This is how we rise up!_

 _"Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder!"_

And then the Grimm were upon them, crashing over them like a wave, and the stability fragmented. Summer still felt her instincts linked to a few, but the overwhelming mass from before was gone, so she stuck with the few who she still felt. Her Succubus was now only held in her left hand, her Harpy in her right, and she stood back to back with the LMG wielding Lei, gunning down any Grimm that drew near.

 _"Magic, static, call me a fanatic_

 _"It's our world, they can never have it!"_

Just as Summer thought she'd be overwhelmed by the sheer press of Grimm, a blast of concussive force slammed into the Beowolves charging at her and knocked them flat, giving her an easy time of finishing them. Without even thinking about it, she turned her weapon to the sky and fired at the Nevermore trying to attack the flying Hunter from behind, shredding through its head with her silver-augmented rounds. Summer's PIP-Boy blared out a warning that she was below thirty percent of her Aura, but she ignored it and kept on fighting.

 _"This is how we rise up!_

 _"It's our resistance! You can't resist us!"_

The Alpha Beowolf took her from behind, slamming its claws against her back with the force of a speeding car. Summer cried out as she was sent flying, her Aura breaking as she impacted with the ground. She pointed her shotgun at it and squeezed the trigger, only to realize that it was empty; she raised her SMG and fired, silver sparks still dripping from her eyes as the gun fired twice and clicked empty. The bullets tore into the Grimm's shoulder, ripping it from the beast with more force than they should have been able to muster.

And then the Grimm was upon her, raking its claws over her face; thanks to the Med-X she'd pilfered earlier, it felt vaguely unpleasant instead of painful, and she closed her eyes reflexively as blood streamed down her face. As the Beowolf grabbed her head, and before it slammed her against the ground, she heard a single word, which she vaguely recognized as her name. But then she was unconscious, without ever realizing just who had said it.

Alfred tore the Beowolf to pieces in her stead.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The battle had ended more than an hour ago, but Rhonwen and Haruki were still busy at the medical clinic. The two of them had needed to patch up the forty militiamen injured by Nora when she stormed through Yang's Rest, and only had three volunteers helping them.

Luckily for them, there were only three people injured in the fight with the Grimm. Unfortunately, that was because the Grimm don't tend to leave the injured alone; sixteen people were dead, and six more who'd been present for the fight were missing and assumed dead.

"Bandages," Haruki said, holding out his hand expectantly. The only volunteer still there, a rather stoic young girl who wasn't yet a teenager, handed him a nearly depleted roll of fine cotton, which he wrapped around the makeshift splint he'd been forced to construct for the sole patient who they hadn't finished treating. "Tape."

"Just cycle your Aura through the leg and get plenty of rest and calcium, and you'll be back on your feet in a few days," Rhonwen said, helping a young man with a broken leg out the door. His older sister was waiting for him, and placed his arm over her shoulders, letting Rhonwen out from under his other. "Take care!"

When Rhonwen walked back into the clinic, her forced cheer evaporated almost instantly. She walked over to the stool she'd set between Summer's and Asra's cots and practically collapsed onto it, her worry sapping what little strength her exhaustion hadn't.

Asra's jaw had fared better than she'd expected when she first saw how badly it had swollen; there was only a single break, and it didn't go all the way through the bone. Unfortunately for her, that still meant she wouldn't be able to talk or eat solid food for a few days, and that she should be really careful with it for the next few weeks.

Summer was much worse. Her face had been a ragged mess when she'd been brought in, and after clearing the wounds of the meat that the Grimm had torn free from her, Rhonwen had discovered a rather sickening fact: Summer's right eye was beyond recovery. Rhonwen had been forced to remove what was left of it, though she'd managed to save the nerve endings; she didn't really expect to find anyone capable of building or attaching a cybernetic replacement, but she figured she might as well hope.

"Thanks for the help," Haruki said, nodding at the youth who'd been helping him. "Yah can go now, Shizuka."

She nodded in return, then left the clinic, leaving the two doctors alone with more than a dozen unconscious patients.

Haruki sat at his desk with a weary sigh, letting himself rest for a minute before he got to work cataloging the clinic's remaining supplies. "Good work, Rhonwen," he said after a moment, glancing at the nearly motionless Schnee. "They'll be back on their feet in a couple days, at most."

Rhonwen glanced at him, tears trailing down her cheeks, then shook her head and looked back down at Summer. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs as she cried over one of the few real friends she'd made since her exile, thinking about what losing her eye might do to Summer's already brutalized psyche. She was a sniper, after all, who worked with firearms so much that she had an easier time learning and adapting to stress when she could handle a gun; Rhonwen wondered what Summer might do when she woke up and found out what she'd lost.

Haruki stared at Rhonwen for a moment, wondering what he could say to help her, then finally sighed again and shook his head. He turned back to his desk, ultimately resolving to let her deal with her worry on her own. Sometimes, he mused grimly, pain just needs time alone to heal.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Twenty-two dead or missing, a dozen with debilitating injuries, and dozens more with minor injuries that will nonetheless stick with them for at least a week," Ferrer growled, resting his head in his hands as he leaned over his desk. "Volka's gone, Asra's down for the count, and Storm is missing and presumed dead. Right now, we need to show the people leadership," Ferrer continued, raising his head to look at the two people in front of him.

"Then why'd you call us here?" Alfred growled at him, crossing his arms over his chest. He was leaning against one of the bare walls of Ferrer's office, having refused the offer of the still empty chair sitting in front of the mayor's desk; as the seconds ticked by, Alfred found himself wishing more and more that he hadn't built up his unruly reputation quite so much.

"I also find myself questioning your judgement in this matter." Sayen was sitting in the other chair in front of Ferrer's desk, her legs crossed demurely. She'd taken the time to tame her frizzy red hair after the battle, and had put it into a simple ponytail to keep it tamed. "Alfred was Storm's Lieutenant, yes, but I do not believe he has the temperament to actually lead the militia, nor do I believe that I would be compatible as his Lieutenant."

"Close," Ferrer said, ignoring the growl Alfred sent Sayen's way. To her credit, she sent the donkey Faunus an annoyed look instead of quailing in fear. "Sayen, you are in charge of the militia from her on out. You have the freedom to choose your second, as long as they agree to it. And you don't choose Alfred."

Sayen blinked in surprise at the mayor, her thin lips pursing as she thought. "This is acceptable," she said after a moment, her red eyes settling on the outwardly fuming Faunus yet again. "May I ask why I cannot choose Alfred?"

"Because _he_ is going to be in charge of the Hunters from this point on," Ferrer said, making both of his subordinates' eyes widen. "Alfred, you have the right to recruit anyone willing whom you think is capable of handling a Huntsman-class weapon. The Hunters already present in the militia will defer to your leadership over Sayen's, and you will be expected to train them as the Huntsmen of old were trained."

"Are these orders from the top?" Alfred asked.

"No. And let's not give the NCR any ideas," Ferrer said, scowling up at the ceiling. "The Hunters will be for the protection of Yang's Rest, and the people who live here. Nothing else. We're not going to let the NCR dictate what we do in our home anymore, not after today. If they had stationed soldiers here like I requested dozens of times..." Ferrer trailed off, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. "The Hunters aren't going to officially exist, Alfred. No documentation. You understand?"

"What'll you do about our funding?" Alfred asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's a limit to how many caps can go missing before people start noticing, and you need to report that shit to the NCR."

"Which is why you'll need to find volunteers," Ferrer said with a sigh. "The militia has enough training to make them easy to pull from, and their day job is mutable enough that most people wouldn't notice several of them disappearing for hours at a time or being more tired than normal. Anyone else you find will need to be self-sufficient enough to make that decision for themselves. Or have an employer that we trust implicitly."

"Funny. It almost sounds like you want me to recruit Summer Dream," Alfred commented gruffly, staring harshly at Ferrer.

"If she agrees, yes. Her and Asra both," Ferrer said. "They both fulfill vital roles in our community, and I would feel much better if today's events were not likely to repeat themselves. We cannot afford to lose them."

"With all due respect, it feels like you are putting an undue amount of value on them," Sayen pointed out. "I cannot believe that this is due to their roles in the community, and find it much easier to believe that this is because of their bloodlines. In fact, you seem to have made a point of gathering multiple bloodlines derived from Huntsmen of the old age. One might grow to surmise an ulterior motive from these actions, and the NCR would be incredibly likely to determine this is the case if its agents realize what you are doing here."

"I have not intentionally drawn the old blood to me, Sayen," Ferrer said. "That they chose to stay when offered a home was their choice, and one I give to damn near everyone who passes through. Their bloodlines are strong, yes, but remember that this town was founded by a random chance. Three of the old bloodlines, meaning myself, Asra, and Volka, met three of the new age, meaning you and your family, and we chose to stand together and protect each other. Much like your Semblance suggests, Sayen, we are stronger when we act in unison."

"You are a sentimental fool, Ferrer," Sayen said, letting out a sigh. "But you have made some good points. For now, I will continue to follow your lead. I expect there will be some confusion from the militia while we work this out, but that was likely to happen in any case."

"Anyone else you'd like to recommend for the Hunters?" Alfred asked, shifting his feet uncomfortably. He really wished he'd sat down instead of leaning against the wall. "It might shock you to hear this, but I don't exactly mingle with the townsfolk."

"Rhonwen Schnee might be a suitable choice," Ferrer began, "though I'd rather have her nearby in case we have another emergency; use your own discretion on whether or not to recruit her. Saturn Grove would likely be a more reliable option, given his recent acquisition of a Huntsman-class weapon. I hear he put it to good use during the battle, today."

"He did," Sayen said. "Though I would question exactly why he found it necessary to purchase such a weapon."

"Other than them, there's Ariel Pierce. Her Semblance lets her essentially swim through earth and stone, and she's been part of the militia for two years now. Oh, and Gregory Ramos, though you might need to correct his kleptomania if you decide to go with him. He's a solid fighter, though, and the only reason he isn't in the militia right now is because we couldn't get him to stop stealing ammunition," Ferrer said, snorting out a laugh.

"I would recommend Shizuka," Sayen said.

"She's twelve," Ferrer said, scowling at the songstress.

"Which means she has time to learn," Sayen countered. "I would remind you that you have requested Alfred teach these Hunters as the Huntsmen of old were taught, and the Huntsmen of old were trained from their youth in the art of war. My daughter is mentally stable enough to partake in such training, and I would personally feel relieved knowing she can defend herself if it she has need to."

"I'll ask, but you'd better not try to persuade her," Alfred growled at Sayen. "I've had enough of child soldiering for a lifetime."

Sayen's eyes softened, and she bowed her head to him. "Yes, I suppose you would. You have my apologies if I have offended you, Alfred."

"There's one other thing," Ferrer said, shaking his head. "The Hunters will need code names and identity-concealing gear to keep themselves from being identified. I'd recommend you settle that with them as quickly as you can, once you recruit them."

"Of course," Alfred said, rolling his eyes. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, but keep your PIP-Boy on. I might need to speak with you again in the near future. Sayen, we'll need to announce your new status to the militia before long if we want to keep this orderly. Inform them that we'll be meeting at the town hall tomorrow at eight a.m."

"Yes, sir."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The funeral was held the next day, and every last person in Yang's Rest was in attendance, even those still recovering from their injuries. A massive pyre had been built nearly a mile east of the town, and the dead that had been found were lain atop stretchers made from woven bark. Tears fell en masse from the crowd, both in silence and in agonized sobs, as they grieved their fallen friends and family.

"Today, we honor the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to preserve our own," Ferrer said, standing in front of the pyre. His back was to the roaring flame, and the heat was beginning to become painful for him, but he bore with it. "To keep their spirits from wallowing in the darkness the Grimm bring with them, we consign their bodies to the flames, showing them the way out from the dark and allowing them to take the path that leads to the light. May they rest peacefully hereafter."

Summer shivered, her fever making her seem to be at once too cold and too hot. She leaned further into Asra's embrace, trying not to jostle the older woman's bandaged jaw. Their faces were so covered by white bandages that they were quite nearly unrecognizable; only their outfits marked who they were, Summer's red cloak and Asra's black coat standing out in the sea of black formal wear that their fellow citizens were wearing. Asra's bandages were mostly to keep her from moving her jaw too much, but Summer's were there for two reasons: first, to help prevent infection in the still-healing wounds that the Beowolf had left on her face; and second, to preserve her self-image until she'd had a chance to heal.

"Unfortunately, there were some who were not found after the battle," Ferrer continued, closing his eyes and turning his head to the ground. "I will not attempt to keep your hopes up for them returning, given the world we live in, but there is a chance, however slim, that they may yet live and simply be displaced from us for the time being. For now, however, we will mourn their loss as we would their deaths.

"Among the missing is Storm Bright, the leader of our militia and one of my dearest friends," Ferrer continued, letting out a silent, melancholic sigh. "There will be tough times ahead, for all of us, but I believe that we can make it through this together. To that end, I have appointed Sayen Mays as leader of the militia in his stead. Her Semblance truly embodies the spirit of togetherness that we will need to see us through the coming hardships."

There were a few quiet murmurs through the crowd, but they ended abruptly when Alfred, standing at Ferrer's left, nodded his head approvingly.

"And now, we shall remember those we've lost, the people who protected us with their very lives."

Ferrer listed off their names, one at a time, and waited until the team of six volunteers had lifted their corresponding body's stretcher and borne it into the flaming pyre behind him before he said the next.

To Summer's shock, one of the names Ferrer said was familiar to her: Clarissa Fade, the utterly gorgeous waitress with a voice that could make a deaf man scream in pain. Her body had been covered in a ragged blanket, but her head was intact; her mouth was twisted open, and her glassy eyes had been tight with terror and pain when she'd died. When the pole-bearers placed her into the flames, the blanket shifted, revealing the ragged mess that the Grimm had made of her torso.

Once the bodies had all been placed on the pyre, Ferrer listed off the names of the missing, including Storm Bright and Volka Locke. The announcement that one of the town's founders was among the missing was met with mute shock by the crowd, the fact that their lives could be cut short suddenly seeming much more real to them.

"I know the pain that you're all feeling," Ferrer said, swallowing at the lump that had appeared in his throat after saying Volka's name. "The tightness in your chests, the ache in your hearts and souls. But we need to remember why they died, the sacrifice they made to defend all of us. We need to honor their lives by continuing to live for them, to have more stories to tell them when we eventually meet them all again in the next life. Until then, we need to keep living and keep learning, for their sake as well as our own. May the gods watch over us all."

With that, Ferrer walked away from the still burning flames, only to turn and face them when he reached the edge of the crowd. Alfred did the same, his steps silent over the gritty, dust-covered ground. The only sounds to be heard for several minutes were the crackling of flame and the choked sobs of those mourning their loved ones.

The crowd started to disperse before long, eager to leave the dead behind them. Summer turned to look at Rhonwen when the doctor put a hand on her shoulder, shifting Asra's attention to her as well. The three of them left together, heading back to the medical clinic where Summer would be spending her next few days under observation.

Smoke rose into the air behind them as they walked in silence, the pain of having lost one of their own hanging over them. There were no longer four descendants of the old team RWBY.

Now, there were but three.

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And that's the end of chapter 10. I hope you enjoyed it.

Also, holy shit. Volume 4 comes out soon! I wonder if there'll be any more trailers like the one we got so far. (At the time of writing, only one (featuring Ruby) has come out.)

Now for the song piece. I remembered it this time!

The Resistance (Skillet) [Given the nature of the fight with the Grimm horde, I felt this would be a good way to introduce Sayen's Semblance and reduce the number of casualties that Yang's Rest would take] {In this story, the song was written and composed by Sayen, along with several other songs of a similar nature, in order for her to use with her Semblance.}

Okay, I think that's everything! I actually remembered everything this time! Yay!

I can't wait to realize I forgot something and need to come back to edit it!

Edit: Mother fucker! I put funereal instead of funeral! At least I didn't forget anything this time, but unholy fuck I hate this! Why is funereal even a word?!


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